OF SEA-ANEMONES. 89 



our crowbar, next, the gi'ound- swell of j^esterday, 

 which rolled in many of our choicest specimens, and 

 lastly, the fact of our having searched for each 

 sjDecies at its proper level and in the peculiar situa- 

 tions which it loves to inhabit. Now we will add a 

 little fresh and clear water to each of our bottles, 

 and chisel off a few pieces of sea-weed, this plant 

 of green laver and a few fronds of Carrageen moss, 

 and start homewards, resting for awhile under the 

 broken cliffs of Arragonite Bay, to recruit our 

 strength and see tliat our specimens are completely 

 settled in their temporar}^ abode. 



I am not going to moralize. See how the gulls 

 are soaring in wide circles overhead, screaming in 

 the fulness of their delight, satiated as they are with 

 the dainty repast of the ill-starred limpets and the 

 mussels which they have devoured at low-water mark; 

 and what a strange wild laugh that is of theirs ! how 

 often one hears it at early dawn when ihey are 

 flying far overhead in misty flocks to seek their in- 

 land pasture-grounds. There is a cormorant, with 

 outstretched neck, working his way up channel in 

 straight and measured flight : his shadow flits by 

 us, a dim gray cross on the gray stones. And there 

 is a windhover poising himself motionlessly with 

 outstretched tail and curved wings, and his head 

 well up in the wind : down he comes with a swoop, 

 and now he is again in his old station, as though the 

 intangible air were a quiet resting-place. I am not 



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