106 SEA-SHORE LIFE 
appropriate. As one approaches they dash off with great rapidity 
and will often rush into the water, although the gray snappers are 

fig. 75; Burrows of Fiddler Crabs. In the center of the cut a male crab may 
be seen emerging from its burrow. Streets of Key West, Florida. 
swimming close along the shore in order to devour them. The 
crab rarely enters the sea excepting during the breeding season, 
in the spring of the year. 
Mr. Beebe of the New York Zoological Park discovered that this 
crab is very destructive to the eggs of sea birds on Cobb Island. 
FIDDLER CRABS. 
Fiddler Crabs, (Uea, Figs. 74,75). These crabs live in immense 
numbers on muddy banks above high tide, and literally riddle the 
ground with burrows into which they rush for shelter at the least 
alarm. In the male one claw is very large while the other is small, 
but in the female both claws are small and of equal size. 
The eyes are mounted upon long, movable eye-stalks. These 
crabs feed upon plants, the male using his small claw, and the fe- 
