286 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



houseboat is located. After meals, the waste pieces 

 of fish, bloater-skins, and other offal are thrown into 

 the shallow water, to the intense interest of these 

 scavengers. Bones, too large for some little fellow 

 to drag away, give occasion for a show of bullying 

 at the "claws'" of a larger relative. Free fights 

 take place between evenly matched rivals, and a 

 great deal of threatening is indulged in. It is 

 seldom anything serious happens, for the weaker 

 one promptly shambles off to a safe or respectable 

 distance, and the successful claimant either shuffles 

 off with its prize to the shelter of a piece of sea- 

 wrack, or, if its "find 1 ' be too large, begins to 

 pull off pieces, which are hurriedly stuffed into its 

 mouth. 



I was very much interested in July 1901 at seeing 

 a Jellyfish moving about in a shallow, trailing its 

 tentacles behind it on the mud. A couple of crabs 

 followed it up closely, seeming very much inclined 

 to get a nip if possible, yet on the slightest change 

 of movement they nervously bolted aside. I left 

 them still manoeuvring like a cruiser harassed by a 

 couple of dodging torpedo boats. 



