26 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 
to the difficulties that beset them and the 
limitations that hem them in. 
The struggle on the shore is partly for 
food—some of which is always being carried 
out to sea; partly for foothold—for a good 
niche is a treasure; partly for the oxygen 
mixed with the water—the oxygen which is 
always necessary to keep life going; partly 
against risks of dislodgment, smothering, and 
drought; partly to get elbow-room in self- 
expression; and partly to secure the safety and 
welfare of the young ones. The “struggle” 
is sometimes an endeavour after well-being. 
It may be with fellows of the same kind—one 
hermit-crab against another; it may be with 
foes of quite different race—mussel against 
star-fish, limpet against oyster-catcher; it may 
be between animals and Fate—the physical 
forces of wind and wave, of sand and sun. 
The struggle is manifold. 
In our study of the Wonder of Life (1914) 
we have referred to the struggle for foothold 
on the shore. “It is important, for instance, 
that the limpet, which makes little journeys 
in search of seaweed to nibble, should not go 
too far, else it will not find its way back, and 
will have lost the spot which its shell has 
