THE PERIWINKLE 23 



PLATE IX 



THE PERIWINKLE (3 and 4) 



Of course you know the Periwinkle very well 

 indeed by sight and very likely by taste, too! 

 So there is no need for me to describe it. But 

 perhaps you did not know that there are two 

 different kinds of periwinkles. One of these 

 is the Common Periwinkle, which is very plen- 

 tiful indeed on many parts of the coast. You 

 may find it in thousands and thousands if you 

 hunt about on the weed -covered rocks near 

 the water's edge when the tide is out, and no 

 matter how many of them are caught, there 

 always seem to be just as many again next 

 day. This is the periwinkle which is used for 

 food. 



The other is the Dog Periwinkle. It is rather 

 larger, and has a stouter shell. If you want to 

 find it, you must look on the rocks about half- 

 way between high and low water-marks, and 

 there you will generally find it crawling about in 

 numbers. But it is not good for food, because 

 it often has a quantity of eggs inside its body, 

 and inside these eggs the shells of the baby 

 periwinkles are already formed, which make it 

 dreadfully gritty. Thrushes, however, as well as 

 a good many of the shore birds, do not mind this 



