58 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



pocket. By this means, twelve hundred oysters 

 may sometimes be drawn up at a liaul. These 

 oysters fished up from the ocean in a wild state are 

 placed in parks, in which they are laid in their 

 natural position (that is to say, flat, with the dome- 

 shell underneath), on the sloping part of the shore, 

 but at a sufficient depth to render it difficult for 

 thieves to get at them, and yet not at too great a 

 depth, for fear of the mud deposits. If the Sur- 

 veyor (as the man is called who looks after the 

 park), has placed the oysters properly, if he manages 

 them with care, and above all if he prevents a 

 deposit of mud from burying them, — a risk to which 

 they are always very liable, — for which purpose, he 

 cleanses the walls of the park constantly, and throws 

 clean water over the oysters whenever they are left 

 dry, — his oysters will be all the sooner fit for the 

 market. He must carefully pick out all those that 

 die ; and they may easily be detected by the fact 

 that they keep their valves open when the water is 

 down. 



Crab's are very fond of oysters, and come up into 

 the parks with the flow of the tide ; mussels and 

 starfish or five-fingers (which suck the creature out 

 with their trunks or suckers), and the whelks, are 

 also dangerous enemies which have to be avoided. 



In addition to these, there is a bird which devours 

 oysters in large quantities. It belongs to the order 

 Charadriadts, and, is called the oyster-catcher [Haema- 



