LOCH CRERAN. 



blance of the egg masses to those of domestic fowls, and 

 the regular attendance of the fish every morning at the 

 " cairn " in the sea, surrounded with tangle and compara- 

 tively shallow, would lead one to expect a daily egg-lay- 

 ing until the proper quantity was disposed of. These 

 fish were mostly fed upon shell fish. Various hermit 

 crabs, some Porcellanidae, one or two gapers or Myae, 

 and a good many cockles seemed to comprise the greater 

 portion of their contents. That they should have been 

 able to withdraw the well-sunk shells of the gapers from 

 their secure position in the clay of the loch's bottom, we 

 did not expect ; but the strong syphon tube of this shell- 

 fish is frequently well protruded, and what is stiff soil at 

 low water is no doubt a much softer material when 

 covered by the sea. At anyrate, shell-fish was the main 

 -dish at their feast. Nor did we see a fragment of fish 

 proper in the stomachs of any of them. 



The tide was low, and we were out at the utmost 

 "verge with our assistants, busily engaged, when one of 

 them pointed to the " fish ripple " on the surface of the 

 advancing tide, and declared the shoal to be one of 

 young herring about seven inches long. This appeared 

 to us unlikely, so as we had been walking in well over 

 our knickerbockers after flounders, we turned stork or 

 heron for the nonce, and walking into the sea stood stock 

 still for some time, until the sea should bring its living 

 burden towards us. Long we watched, and watched in 

 vain ; for although the creatures occasionally played near 

 by, and appeared of small dimensions, we could not get 

 a proper glance to say positively they were not herring. 

 At length, when the water had crept further up our limbs 

 than we had calculated, a splash and ripple behind us 

 told of a portion of the shoal having passed. Carefully 



