194 WILD LIFE ON A NORFOLK ESTUARY 



or if surprised at a movement on my part, to seize the soft 

 ooze in all his claws, as one might push in the hand and close 

 upon it, and sink in a moment or two out of'sight, remaining 

 buried, all but the tips of the stalky eyes which, barely un- 

 covered, ogled one in comparative safety. But remove the eye 

 a moment, and then seek him again ; I'll warrant you'll not 

 easily fix upon the exact spot where he lies concealed. 



That the crab has immense strength for his size can be 

 easily proved by letting him nip you with his pincers ! I 

 brought home a little fellow about the size of a five-shilling 

 piece. Holding him up, I placed a tin box-lid within reach 

 of him. He immediately seized it with a pincer-claw. 

 Weight by weight I continued dropping into it scale-weights 

 until it contained no less than five ounces. The other pincer- 

 claw was equally strong. I placed another into a small 

 globe without a drop of water. For four days he sulkily 

 remained therein, wondering at his imprisonment. At the 

 end of the time a "soft" crab (one that had recently 

 moulted its shell) was given to him, whereupon he fell to 

 and made a goodly meal of it. I let him go back to the 

 river on the fifth day ; he was still game and quarrelsome 

 when I threw him in. 



Small boys, who go " crabbing " at the quaysides, delight 

 in wrenching off the shore-crab's pincer-claws ; the hard- 

 nipping creature can then be handled and played with with 

 impunity ; in most instances a general smash-up follows on 

 the expedition. Occasionally the mutilated crabs are thrown 

 into the river again, to hunt and feed as best they can ; 

 which they certainly manage to do, for they will sometimes 

 return to the baits provided by other urchins, clinging 

 tenaciously thereto with all their remaining legs, and gnawing 

 ravenously at them. But it is seldom you find a clawless 

 crab on Breydon, which goes to prove that they do not often 

 fight seriously amongst themselves, and that they soon re- 

 place these lost members, and make as good use of them as 

 before. All summer long the shore-crab infests the shallows, 

 sometimes wandering for miles up the adjacent rivers ; in 

 the colder months it keeps to the deepest channels, and is 

 then not so actively aggressive. 



It is seldom that a "soft" crab is netted on Breydon, the 

 moulting being carried on in the cavities under the flints 



