INTKODUCTION. XXXIX 



black lines, by the falling tide, like some huge Whale 

 rising from the " vasty deep," than Gulls, before unseen 

 for hours, with all the punctuality of instinct appear 

 at once, and dot the surface with their glistening 

 plumage. Sanderlings (Galidris arenaria), Whimbrels 

 (Numenius phceo^pusj, Turnstones (Strepsilas interpres). 

 Dunlins (Tringa variabilis) , and Grey Plover (Squatarola 

 cinerea), each in separate flocks, seek the same goal, 

 their numbers varying only with the mildness or severity 

 of the season, and cautious Curlews (Numenius arquata) 

 in extended line, come slowly flapping to the general 

 feast. Oyster-catchers by hundreds throng the water's 

 edge, and further out in the direction of the " Oyster 

 sea" — where many kinds of fish abound, and where 

 occasionally a Seal (Phoca vitulina) may be seen sunning 

 itself on the raised sand-banks, or rearing its dark head 

 for an instant from the deeper waters — long lines of 

 Scoters (CEdemia nigra), swimming and diving", are 

 feeding their way down towards the outer margin of 

 the scalp. On one portion of the beach a stratum of 

 blue clay, soft and slippery to the tread, appears on 

 the surface, whilst in the dark peaty substance which, 



as appear the powers of reproduction of these little shell- 

 fish, an enemy is found in the " five finger" or star-fish, far more 

 destructive than either birds or men. These curious creatures 

 may be found by dozens in the pools left by the tide upon the 

 larger scalps, and strange as it may seem are carted away also by 

 the tumbril load at a time, for the same purpose as the mussels 

 themselves, which in time, no doubt, they would utterly destroy. 

 The means by which this sea-pirate effects an entrance into the 

 shells of both mussels and oysters has been thus described by Mr. 

 F. Buckland : — " He grasps the unfortunate oyster tightly with his 

 five fingers, and then from the centre of his star protrudes some 

 four or five jelly like bags filled with a clear fluid ; with patience 

 and perseverance, and upon the thin end of the wedge principle, 

 he manages to squeeze these bags between the shells of the oyster, 

 and then clears out the shell till it is as empty as a soap bubble." 



