294 The Naturalist of Cumbrae. 



The fishermen told him that two or three miles out 

 from the shore there were Pecten banks crowded with 

 animal life, and, as some evidence that what they said 

 was true, he noted numbers of valves of Pecten opercu- 

 laris on the beach, and a full basket of Pecten maximus 

 for sale in the market at a shilling a dozen. 



He watched the people at low tide taking sand-eels 

 for bait. The general mode of capture is to dig them 

 up \\i\h. & grape or pitchfork, but some have the knack 

 of doing it with great success with an old toothed 

 reaping-sickle, drawing it through the sand with one 

 hand and taking hold of the eels by the other as they 

 are brought up on the sharp teeth. But this can only 

 be done when the sand is covered by at least a few 

 inches of water, for when the sand is bare it becomes 

 so stiff that the fish would be cut through before they 

 could be brought to the surface. 



The very different mode of obtaining the sand-eels 

 practised at Aberdeen has been already described. 

 There also they have an alternative method, for they 

 sometimes use a peculiar long-handled spade, with 

 which, by laying the long handle over the knee, they 

 turn the fishes out with great rapidity. But in this 

 operation both practice and quick fingers are needed 

 to pick the eels up before they can make their escape 

 back into the sand. 



In obtaining lug-worms for bait there is a similar 

 variety of custom. On the Ayrshire coast as well as 

 in the Isle of Man the fishermen dig for them with 

 a flat three-pronged grape, whereas on the Isle of 

 Cumbrae and some other parts of the west of Scotland 

 they take them with a flat spade. 



