Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/181

Rh like Bombay and is too striking and handsome to escape notice. I mean the Oyster-catcher, or Sea Pie. Why it should be called an Oyster-catcher I cannot guess, for I do not think it feeds on oysters, and oysters do not need much catching. But the other name, Sea Pie, is good, and is almost sufficient to recognise it by. Its breast and under parts, with the lower back and a broad band on the wings, are pure white, and all the rest is pure black. It is a large bird, not so big as a Curlew, but bigger than a Lap-wing. All the books speak of it as a winter visitant, and Mr. Blanford says that it breeds in Northern Europe and on the Caspian, but I have seen a flock of fifteen or more, not far from Bombay, on the 29th of June, looking very much at home. So there may be something still to be discovered about their habits. The name of this bird in science is Hæmatopus ostralegus.