INTRODUCTION. Ay | 
the shore would be far from being either pleasant or whole- 
some if all the reectamenta of the deep were allowed to 
remain. But man has discovered that what the ancients 
accounted worthless seaweed, is a precious gift from the 
sea to the land, and it is consequently carted away, often 
miles inland, that it may impart a richer verdure to the 
pasture-fields, and greater fertility to what is under the 
plough. ‘There are also innumerable little creatures on the 
shore ready to feast on the dead animals brought to them 
by the tide. The very mice from the adjoining sand-hills 
know the time of low water, and though they do not ven- 
ture forth in broad daylight, they may often be seen foraging 
among the seaweeds in the evening. Flocks of sea-birds, 
however, carry on their operations by day; and even land- 
birds know the turn of the tide, and flock down to cater on 
the strand. Rooks fail not to visit the shore, that they 
may feast on the shell-fish forsaken by the tide. The saga- 
city they exhibit mm reaching the contents of those bivalves 
that are closed, and which their strong bills could neither 
break nor open, is deserving of notice. They carry them 
up to a considerable height, and, allowing them to drop on 
the rocks, find on their descent that they are broken, and 
that the feast of shells is ready spread for them; or, if not 
C 
