122 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



The common cockle (Cardium edule) ranks about 

 next to the common mussel. The range too is 

 much the same, i.e. within six fathoms. And it 

 shares the further advantage of not suffering from 

 exposure on banks during the ebb ; a hardihood 

 which makes it available at all times, and renders 

 it amenable to cultivation. The shell, however, is 

 difficult to open; and scarcely worth the trouble, 

 as the contents of two or three are needed to fill 

 a hook. On the east coast it is more used for food 

 than bait. 



The clam (My a arenaria)' is similarly hardy 

 with the cockle. The common limpet, used along 

 with the mussel, makes an excellent spring bait 

 for haddock. 



When the breakers, driven before an easterly 

 gale, tear up the sandbanks, and unceremoniously 

 dislodge their inhabitants, they scatter an endless 

 variety of bivalves along the coast ; Mactra, 

 Lutraria, Cyprina, Solen, Venus, and a host 

 of others more distinguished for beauty than 

 use. The quantity is endless, and would have 

 served for weeks, had it only been given less 

 imperially. The choice is embarrassing. The 

 fisherman, his wife and children, are abroad with 

 every available basket ; which they bring back 



