LAND-CRABS 43 



petrels, whether white or grey-breasted, had the 

 legs and the bases of the toes flesh-coloured, 

 the rest of the feet and webs black. 



Very few eggs of these petrels were found. 

 Wilson's petrels had barely begun to lay, while 

 the eggs of the other species had almost all hatched 

 out. The eggs of the Wilson's petrels which we 

 found were pure white, and about the size of a 

 small hen's egg. 



After collecting a number of these petrels for 

 specimens, I climbed higher up the ravine. It 

 was a very warm and tiring business. The water 

 had worn the rocky bed until it had formed a 

 deep valley. In some places in the bed of the 

 stream there was a sheer drop of twelve or fourteen 

 feet from one rock to another. Followed by the 

 ship's carpenter I went laboriously on, carefully 

 searching every nook and cranny for the nests 

 of petrels. In some places we found deep caves, 

 hollowed out by the stream probably during heavy 

 rainfalls. These caves were dripping with moisture 

 and were full of land-crabs, which scuttled away 

 at our approach, their legs making a peculiar 

 rattling noise on the rocky floor. They also made 

 a continuous snapping sound with their pincers, 

 which they waved about in a threatening manner. 

 The land-crabs of Trinidad have been described 

 as ferocious and of huge size ; but all those we 

 saw were small and most inoffensive, their one idea 

 being to hurry away from us and to hide in the 



