. Birds. Birds. 246 CHAEADETIDJE. inner secondary quills white, forming a wing-band; primary coverts blaci:; primaries the same, except part of the inner web and a lanceolate white spot on the shaft and outer web, com- mencing as a streak on the first primary and increasing inwards ; tail white at base, black at end. / Young birds are browner black, and have a broad band of white on the throat. Bill bright reddish orange, dingy and yellowish at the tip ; irides red; eyelids of&nge-red; legs and feat brownish purple (^Hume). Length 16 ; tail 4; wing 10 ; tarsus 2-1; bill from gape 3'
. Birds. Birds. 246 CHAEADETIDJE. inner secondary quills white, forming a wing-band; primary coverts blaci:; primaries the same, except part of the inner web and a lanceolate white spot on the shaft and outer web, com- mencing as a streak on the first primary and increasing inwards ; tail white at base, black at end. / Young birds are browner black, and have a broad band of white on the throat. Bill bright reddish orange, dingy and yellowish at the tip ; irides red; eyelids of&nge-red; legs and feat brownish purple (^Hume). Length 16 ; tail 4; wing 10 ; tarsus 2-1; bill from gape 3' Fig. 55.—Head of H. ostraJegus (immature), f. Distribution. The greater part of Europe and Asia, chiefly on sea-coasts. A winter visitor to India, common on the coast of Sind, Cutch, and Kattywnr; less common on the west coast of Indie and rare on the east coast, in Ceylon and in Burma. I do not regard the Chinese and Japanese H. osculans, to which an Arrakanese skin is referred by Sharpe, as worth specific distinction. It only differs in having a little less white on the earlier primaries, the difference in length of bill not being constant. It is probably to gome extent intermediate between M. oslralecpis and ff. longi- rosirig. ffabifg, Sfc. The Oystercatcher is found singly or in parties, and keeps much to rocks between tide-marks, feeding on molluscs and Crustacea; it often fields or meadows near the sea, but is rarely seen far from the coast. It is a wary bird, utters a clear loud whistling note, and breeds in the North of Europe and on the Caspian. Genus HIHANTOPTIS, Brisson, 1760. Bill long, straight, hard, slender, pointed; nostrils linear, near Ihe base of the bill, each situated in a groove that extends about half the length of the mandible. "Wings long and pointed, ] st quill longest; tail short, even. Legs very long; tibia bare for a long distance, three-quarters the length of the long tarsi, which are reticulated throughout; no hind toe, outer joine
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