Chap, xxi.] TURTLE EGGS. 487 



sea-shores, and large numbers make their burrows together, so 

 that the ground is hollowed out in all directions. 



Round the mouths of their burrows and on the even surface 

 of the banks, between the holes, the birds lay out pebbles 

 which they must carry up from the sea-shore for the purpose. 

 The pebbles are of various colours, and the birds seem to 

 collect them from curiosity, at least there appears to be no 

 other explanation of the fact.* The edges of the birds' bills 

 are excessively sharp, and one of them bit me as I was trying 

 to secure it, and cut a strip out of my finger as clean as if it 

 had been done with a razor. 



Ascension Island. March 27tli to April 3rd, 1876. — After a 

 stay of ten days at Monte Video, during which time was afforded 

 for a visit to Buenos Ayres, the ship reached Ascension Island 

 on March 27th. Land Crabs swarm all over this barren and 

 parched volcanic islet. They climb up to the very top of 

 Green Mountain, and the larger ones steal the young rabbits 

 from their holes and devour them. They all go down to the 

 sea in the breeding season. 



It always seems strange to me to see Crabs walking about 

 at their ease high up in the mountains, although the occurrence 

 is common enough and not confined to the Tropics. In Japan 

 a Crab is to be met with walking about on the mountain high- 

 roads far inland, at a height of several thousand feet, as much 

 at home there as a beetle or a spider. Cral)s of the same genus, 

 Telphusa, live inland on the borders of streams in Greece and 

 Italy. 



The sea is usually so rough around Ascension that a sort of 

 crane is provided at the landing steps with a hanging rope, by 

 which one can swing oneself on shore from a boat when it is too 

 rough for the boat to come close to the steps. 



Close to the Dockyard is the Turtle Pond, in which there 

 were over a hundred Turtles at the time of our visit. At the 

 side of the pond an enclosed area of sand is provided, in which 

 the Turtles dig great holes, large enough to bury themselves in, 

 laying their eggs at the bottom of them. Some Turtles were 

 still laying, but a good many lots of eggs were beginning to 

 hatch out. 



The Turtle eggs have a flexible leathery shell, and are 

 rather smaller than a billiard ball, and of the same shape. 

 The fresh-laid egg is never quite full, so that there is always 

 a slight fold or wrinkle in the yielding shell, and seamen some- 

 times puzzle themselves by trying to squeeze the egg so as 

 to get the dint out, but it always forms in a fresh place notwith- 

 standing their efforts. When the eggs are near the time of 



* See p. 134. 



