242 Dwellers of the Sea and Shore 



After the frosft have gone they begin to make their 

 appearance, and by the time the scorching heat of sum- 

 mer has set in they become so numerous along the edge 

 of the marsh that they are countless. The diameter of 

 the shaft varies; those of the young are less than the 

 thickness of a match, while the adults sometimes make 

 holes into which a hen's egg could be dropped. These 

 latter are sunk to the greatest depth ; they rarely reach 

 ^ more than a foot. At the bottom a horizontal tunnel 

 less than a finger's length is often, though not invari- 

 ably, projected. 



Excepting during the breeding season, only one crab 

 occupies a burrow. When the tide is out, this individual 

 can be seen sitting for long periods in the arched door- 

 way, without movement or any sign of life other than 

 an occasional twitch of its eyestalks. But it is fully 

 alive to what is going on around it; if the observer so 

 much as raises an arm, the creature disappears instantly 

 down the shaft. Then, if one waits for a while, one 

 will see it cautiously and slowly reappear to take its 

 place at the entrance. 



Since the fiddler crab makes its burrow at or very 

 close to the high-water mark, its home is inundated for 

 only a short while at each flood. This allows it ample 

 opportunity to wander around. Yet it never goes far 

 afield, seeming to prefer its doorstep to the allurements 

 of travel. It is certainly not due to any inability to get 

 over the ground that it chooses to lead a sedentary life. 

 It is, in fact, a very nimble runner. When surprised at 

 its business of searching for food some few feet away 

 from its hole, it will rush to its retreat with remark- 

 able speed. And to intercept it, one must be more than 



