180 The Museum Gazette 



Dr. Robert Hutchison, from whose excellent work on Food 

 we take the above statement, adds that oysters are " an 

 extravagant form of food, for a given quantity of proteid 

 costs about three times as much in the form of oysters as it 

 does if purchased as beef." Despite the extravagance, we 

 should be glad to know the shop where two hundred and 

 twenty-three oysters can be had for the price of three pounds 

 of beef. 



A SEASIDE MUSEUM. 



A corner of the Haslemere Museum has been set apart for 

 many years for the display of a series of objects illustrating 

 the common plants and animals of the seashore. It is designed 

 to afford opportunity for study to those going to or returning 

 from a holiday on the coast. It has proved very useful, 

 though limitations of space have precluded much attempt at 

 detailed arrangement. We append an annotated list of some 

 of "the objects which it contains and which any Seaside 

 Museum should endeavour to collect. 



I. Birds. — The Stone Curlew, or " Norfolk Plover," as 

 it is sometimes called, the Ringed Plover, or " Sand Lark," 

 the Kentish Plover, Oyster-catcher, and Little Stint amongst 

 the Waders ; a group of birds frequenting our foreshores. 

 They have slender feet and bill, they make no nest, but 

 deposit their eggs in a hollow amongst the shingle. The eggs 

 and young so closely resemble their surroundings that detec- 

 tion is very difficult. 



The Cormorant, Shag and Gannet. These may be con- 

 sidered as the British representatives of the Pelican. The 

 diving and fishing operations of these birds always afford 

 pleasure to visitors to their haunts. The former is frequent 

 in the south, the two latter are more abundant on the rocky 

 northern coasts. Of common gulls we may mention the 

 Herring Gull and the Black-headed Gull, and no series could 



