OYSTER 



OYSTER-CATCHER 



687 



the former is in part surveyed and divided into 

 plots, not to exceed 500 acres for any one person, 

 for oyster-culture. The bivalve is found, however, 

 from the Gulf of St Lawrence to and along the 

 north shore of the Gulf of Mexico, and, though 

 smaller, at points on the west coast, as Puget 

 Sound and Juan de Fuca Strait. In some parts 

 of the United States the Clam (q.v.) rivals the 

 oyster in popularity. 



Supply. The British supply is derived from three 

 sources from the national oyster-banks, which are 

 gradually getting the attention which they deserve ; 

 from the continental banks and farms, especially 

 those of France and Holland ; and from the United 

 States, with which a trade amounting to about 

 half a million dollars annually has rapidly grown. 

 Moreover, it must be noted that young oysters are 

 largely imported from France and elsewhere to be 

 ' fattened on British culture-grounds. The prac- 

 tical problem is to keep up a supply sufficient to 

 meet the large demand. For various reasons this 

 seems to be difficult. As oysters live in 3 to 20 

 fathoms of water, they can hardly be gathered 



it secures. There seems some evidence to show 

 that sheer over-dredging has almost ruined some of 

 the banks, but this probably has been exaggerated. 

 Changes in the sea-iMittom and in the food-supply 

 have doubtless had more to do with the disappear- 

 ance of oysters from localities where they once 

 abounded. Those who permit all kinds of debris 

 and foulness to be emptied into the sea can hardly 

 exjiect a nourishing ov.tter-bank in the neighbour- 

 hood. To preserve the beds, to olwerve 'close 

 time,' to re-stock when the supply wanes, and 

 similar practical precautions are certainly effective ; 

 but regulations which are satisfactory on paper are 

 often very unsatisfactorily realised. The reader 

 should consult the Parliamentary Reports on 

 British Oyster Fisheries (1870), and on the increas- 

 ing scarcity (1876). 



Oyster-culture. Another practical endeavour 

 which has been richly rewarded is that of artificial 

 oyster-culture. This'is of course no novelty, having 

 been practised by the Romans. Thus, Pliny says 

 that ' the first person who formed artificial oyster- 

 b.-ds was Sergius Grata (in the time of Augustus), 

 who established them at liaia; . . . not for the 

 gratification of gluttony, but for the sake of gain, 

 as he contrive;! to nia'ke a large income by the 

 exercise of his ingenuity.' In the days of the later 

 emperors there were well-established ostrearia, and 

 Lake Fiisaro, the Acheron of Virgil, a muddy salt- 

 water pond, nowhere more than six feet in depth, 

 has been for many centuries utilised for this pur- 

 pose. Of oyster-culture there are many different 

 kinds ; it may be confined to ' fattening ' oysters in 

 gome conveniently constructed pond ; or ' fallen 

 pat,' collected on tiles or artificial ' cnlch,' may be 

 brought to the sheltered culture-grounds, where the 

 young can grow in safety ; or again, oysters may be 

 bred in confinement, as Professor J. A. Ryder has 

 succeeded in doing in America. In this last case 

 the oysters were kept in a pond separated from the 

 sea by a sandbank, through which water alone 

 came and went with the tide ; they produced eggs, 

 these grew into 'spat,' the young fell on suitable 

 collectors, which were afterwards removed to the 

 natural lieds. It has even l*en found possible to 

 fertilise the eggs artificially with sperm from male 

 oysters, and though this is not so feasible in the 

 case of the European species, whose eggs are 

 retained within the parent until they have to some 

 extent developed, there is no theoretical obstacle 

 Against breeding them in confinement. Another 

 possibility is to collect the free larvte, which are 



sometimes very abundant, and transfer them to 

 culture-grounds where the risksof mortality would be 

 lessened. The success which has already attended 

 various forms of oyster-culture, of which details 

 will be found in the reports cited below, certainly 

 warrants further extension and experiment, especi- 

 ally as many authorities believe that there is more 

 hope in this than in any legislative measures to pre- 

 serve the natural banks. Arcachon (q. v.) and Can- 

 cale are important French seats of oyster-culture ; 

 in England Whitstable is most notable. The frost 

 of the winter of 1890-91 was estimated to have 

 done 15,000 of damage to the oysters of two com- 

 panies at Whitstable. 



See Parliamentary Reports on Oyster Fisheries (1870, 

 1876, 1878) ; Report of the United States Fisheries Com- 

 mission, viii., which contains not only the results of 

 American observations and experiments but translations 

 of valuable memoirs by Hoek, Hubrecht, and Mobius ; 

 Report of Scotch Fisheries Board (J. H. Fullarton on 

 Ol/eter-eulture in France, <tc.), 1890; Mobius. Hie Ausler 

 und die Austernwirtschaft (1W7); E. Ingersoll, The 

 Oi/ster Industries of the United States (IfcSl); W. K. 

 Brooks, ifevelopmtnt and Protection, of the Oyster in 

 Maryland (1884), and Studies from Hiol. Lab. (vol. i. 

 1880); Huxley, in Enyluh I/lust. May. (voL i. 1883); 

 Marquis of Lome, in Wood Word ( 1890 ) ; Philpots, 

 Oysters aiul all about them (2 vols. 1892). 



Oyster-catcher ( Hwmatoyms), a genus of 

 birds of the family Charadriidie, closely allied to 

 the Plovers, and distinguished chielly by the long, 

 strong, straight, wedge-shaped bill, legs of moderate 

 length, feet with only three toes, all directed for- 

 wards and united at their base by a small mem- 

 brane. The genus, which is cosmopolitan in its 

 distribution, embraces nine species. The only 

 European species, H. ostralegus, known also as 

 the Sea-pie and Mussel-picker, is found on many 

 parts of the English coast, and is common in Scot- 

 land along the whole east coast, on the adjacent 

 islands even as far as St Kilda, and also on the 

 Irish coasts. Although a coast bird, it of tun wanders 

 inland, and may l>e found breeding near inland 

 lochs and on the banks of large rivers. It occurs 

 in Greenland, is common in Iceland, and in many 

 parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Its southern 



Oyster-catcher (Hamatopus ostralegui). 



migrations extend to Burma, Ceylon, Persia, 

 Mozambique, and Senegambia. The adult bird 

 is about 16 inches long, has black and white plum- 

 age, orange-yellow bill, crimson irides, and flesh- 

 coloured legs and toes. It is very regular in its 

 feeding habits, passing with great punctuality to 

 and from its feeding-grounds, where it regales 

 itself with mussels, whelks, limpets, annelids, 

 crustaceans, and small fish. Its eggs, usually 

 three or four in numl>er, are laid on shingle, more 

 rarely among sandhills or even in fields inland, 

 and sometimes on the top of a fairly lofty stack. 

 The oyster-catcher swims well, and takes to the 



