OYSTER-CATCHER 
177 
Economic Status. Most of the members of the order inhabit waste 
land and have little economic effect; others, frequenting cultivated fields, 
are of greater importance, and will be discussed under their specific headings. 
On the whole, the order is either harmless or actively helpful to man. 
Shore birds have never been regarded as desirable game in the west, 
where larger and more prized objects of sport were available. Now, since 
they have become so greatly reduced, shore birds, except for a few species, 
are seldom hunted anywhere. Woodcock and snipe shooting still have 
their devotees who care more to exercise their skill than to obtain heavy 
bags; but woodcock are too rare west of the Great Lakes to be seriously 
considered as game and snipe shooting has been largely confined to eastern 
sportsmen. It was, therefore, little hardship to the western shooter when 
the majority of these species were given a continuous close season under the 
Migratory Birds Convention Act. Though the Limicolae as a group 
never seriously suffered in our western provinces, some of its species were 
not so fortunate. Large waders like the avocet, godwits, curlew, and willet, 
which commonly nested in what are now settled communities, have suffered 
greatly, though not so much from the legitimate sportsman as from the 
pot-hunter. The Migratory Birds Convention Act came none too soon 
to save them, and although the future of the vast hordes of lesser waders 
that nest far to the north seems reasonably secure, that of these larger ones 
is still doubtful. Those that so hang in the balance include some of the 
most attractive wild bird life of the prairies, they add a grace to many 
otherwise monotonous landscapes, and their long, clear, cool, flute -like 
whistles are amongst the imponderables that give character to the wide 
open of the great w ? est. 
The representatives of the suborder in Canada are divided into several 
families: Haematopodidae oyster-catchers; Charadriidae plovers, turnstone, 
and surf-birds; Scolopacidae woodcock, snipes, and sandpipers; and 
Phalaropodidae phalaropes. 
FAMILY HAEMATOPODIDAE. OYSTER-CATCHERS 
General Description. Large shore birds more heavily built than is usual in the order; 
bill stout and horny, extraordinarily flattened laterally (sideways) at tip (Figure 251). 
There are two species in Canada, one restricted to the east coast and the other to the 
west coast. 
286. American Oyster-catcher. L’mitTRiER d'amIsrique. Haematopus palliatus , 
L, 19. Head, neck, and upper breast, black; back, olive-brown with contrasting white 
wing-patch and rump. All underparts, pure white; bill, large, bright red. 
Distribution, Atlantic coast north to Virginia. Formerly to New Jersey, and acci- 
dental in New Brunswick. Probably breeds throughout its range. 
The northern range of this 
striking bird was once on our 
southern sea coasts. It has long 
been exterminated (?) in Canada 
and there is little prospect of its 
occurring there again. 
287. Black Oyster-catcher, l’hu!- 
trter noir. Haematopus bachmani. L, 
about 17. A large, all black bird, with 
long, extraordinarily flattened red bill 
and pink legs. 
Distinctions. Not to be mistaken for 
any other species. 
Figure 251 
Oyster-catcher; scale, about 
