2 NOTES ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OP THE BELL ROCK. 



three inches broad, and about the consistency of sole leather, 

 e4ily''bpfed by a blackback without apparent effort. 

 ,bir.d^, though not classed as divers, I have frequently 



<g>ft'df)riip$e$ely under water to recover a sinking tit-bit. I 

 had an interesting view from the balcony the other morning 

 of a seal which was breakfasting off a full-sized cod which he 

 had just captured. Seizing the fish by the shoulders in his 

 teeth, and pushing it from him with his fore nippers he tore 

 off a great strip clear to the tail. Elevating his head in the 

 air, he gulped it over. Diving after the disappearing fish, he 

 quickly had it on the surface again, and the pushing and 

 tearing repeated till there was nothing left but the head and 

 backbone. A couple of gulls kept circling and screaming over 

 him, picking up any strayed pieces which came their way, but 

 he took good care their share was small, and kept a wary eye 

 on their movements, evidently suspecting they had designs on 

 the fish itself. They, in turn, I noticed, always kept their 

 wings elevated when resting for a moment on the water 

 awaiting his reappearance with the fish, prepared to shoot into 

 the air should he attempt to rush at them. 



The white whelk, whose numbers here are legion, are now 

 making their appearance from their winter quarters, where, 

 in sheltered nooks and crannies, they have successfully resisted 

 the winter's gales. Unlike some of their species, which sub- 

 sist solely on marine plants, they are not vegetarians, but, 

 spreading themselves over the Rock like a devastating army, 

 they devour all animal matter they come across. Armed with 

 a strong muscular proboscis, containing within itself the neces- 

 sary boring apparatus, and which consists of a cylindrical 

 implement, the extremity of which forms the mouth of the 

 animal, and is surrounded by two strong muscular lips, en- 

 closing a tongue, armed with spines, they are able, by the 

 joint action of tongue and lips, to perforate the hardest shells. 

 Fixing itself on the defenceless mussel, the boring operation is 

 carried on through the furrow on the one side of the rim of the 

 whelk, and a neat cylindrical orifice, no bigger than a pinhole, is 

 eventually made in the mussel shell, through which the tongue 



