GREA T BRITAIN. 173 



taken from the stomachs of deep-sea fishes. As summer 

 sets in they arrive in dense schools in the sandy bays and 

 sounds, the places they frequent having been known from 

 time immemorial, and being often very limited in extent. 

 Exceedingly voracious, they devour any fish or other 

 animal which they are able to overcome, while they like- 

 wise bury themselves in the sand, provided the weather is 

 not too bright and sunny ; consequently, when the tide is 

 out, they may be dug up at even some considerable 

 distance from the receding sea, although within the limits 

 of tide-marks. Mr. Lloyd mentions that two kept in an 

 aquarium at Hamburg always buried themselves in the 

 sand at a particular spot, and, on being stirred up, they 

 swam about with an uneasy and rapid wriggling motion 

 for a few moments, generally with their heads towards the 

 light, and then dashed down into the sand, into which they 

 disappeared, prior to the subsidence of the little cloud of 

 sand which they raised in the act of vanishing. 



They appear to live in large schools, which have been 

 observed to rise to the surface simultaneously, or when 

 driven there by predaceous fishes. Thus Sars records seeing 

 a flock of sea-gulls sitting listlessly on the edge of a rock 

 overhanging the sea ; suddenly, and as if with one impulse, 

 all rose at the same moment and, screaming in concert, 

 winged their way to a distant point where the sea looked 

 like a miniature whirlpool. This was occasioned by the 

 pollack, which had surrounded a school of sand-eels, and 

 forced them towards the surface, when they became an easy 

 prey, not only to these fish but to the gulls which swooped 

 down from above. Porpoises have been recorded to act 

 much in the same way, swimming round the schools and 

 devouring immense numbers. 



