16 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



their long, slender, and curved beaks, swarmed in 

 every muddy creek ; the solitary heron sat mournful 

 and motionless upon a stone by the water's edge, 

 waiting, with its proverbial patience, until some im- 

 prudent prey should pass within reach of its beak, 

 whilst above his head the sea swallows {Sterna), and 

 gulls (Larus), described a thousand circles in their 

 rapid flight as they uttered their discordant cries; 

 and then, after gently sinking to the surface of the 

 water, rose by a sudden movement of their wings, 

 after having seized the fish, Avhich their piercing 

 sio'ht had detected below the waves. 



On returning from my first excursion, I skirted 

 along the garden of the farm, — a badly kept plot of 

 ground, in w^hich grew a few dwarf apple-trees, and 

 two poor fig-trees. Here, at the foot of a small 

 hollow, and near a clump of young willows, I dis- 

 covered the spring, whose existence has alone been 

 able to render Chausey habitable. The presence of 

 a spring upon this block of granite, at several leagues 

 from the coast of the main land, is a very curious 

 circumstance, and somewhat difficult of explanation. 

 The neighbouring land is not sufficiently extensive, 

 and is, moreover, too shallow to allow of the sup- 

 position that its infiltrations are adequate for the 

 supply of this spring. On the other hand, it is not 

 easy to suppose that it should owe its origin to the 

 continent across the twisted strata of those is^neous 

 rocks ; yet this latter hypothesis is the less improbable 

 of the two. However this may be, the water of this 

 spring, which never dries, is excellent, and the coast- 

 guard vessels always resort to it for their own use, as 



