APRIL, 1883. 297 



will no' pike oot corbies' een," but their jay-plumaged 

 relatives apparently have to answer a serious charge of 

 devouring their own embryo families or those of their 

 immediate connections. 



The difficulty of discovering a duck's nest is proverbial, 

 and the reason is that the bird always covers up the eggs 

 before it leaves them, unless forced to do so in a 

 desperate hurry. Strange to say, tame ducks retain this 

 peculiarity, and will always throw straw or grass over 

 their eggs after laying, if they have opportunity. But it 

 is certain that our ducks are not far removed from the 

 wild state, whereas our fowls are of Eastern origin and 

 of an ancient civilisation : for the most part, they have 

 forgotten this little trick, if they ever employed it. 



Long ere we reach our destined goal at low water, the 

 tangle fronds have emerged from the water, showing by 

 the deep, rich fringe to the tide that the water is reced- 

 ing rapidly and far; while further along on the sandy 

 stretch the Zostera marina is exposed for 20 yards, with 

 its inhabitants. These, however, are few, except several 

 fine specimens of the Trochus magus, or large whorled 

 trochus, whose shell when exposed loses the common- 

 looking outer coating, and appears resplendent in 

 opalescent mother-of-pearl underskirt. The butterfish 

 (Gunnellus) are many, and in most cases they encircle 

 their ova, fast approaching maturity. Of late we have 

 noted more especially that the spawn of this fish is 

 scarcely ever found apart from the parent fish, which 

 refuses to leave it. In two cases this week we picked 

 up from them their masses of eyed ova, and placed them 

 in a dish. The sun was warm, and the eggs were not 

 long exposed to the heat ere they all commenced to 

 wriggle into life, so that ere we had proceeded far the 



