The Crow’s Feast. 365 
o 
edge—perhaps within a foot of it—and then run out 
into the deeper part. By following these with the 
eye, the mussel may often be seen in a foot or two of 
water—sometimes open, but more generally closed. 
The groove in the sand is caused by the keel of the 
shell as the creature moves. 
There are hundreds of these tracks ; the majority 
‘ appear to run from shallow to deep water, but there 
are others crossing and showing where the mussel has 
travelled. One may occasionally be seen in the act 
of moving itself, and making the groove in the sand. 
But they seem as a rule to move most at night, and 
to approach the shore closest in the darkness. In the 
deep water they are safe ; but near the edge the crows 
pounce on them and may be seen peering about 
almost all day long. 
Besides those that are eaten on the shore, numbers 
of mussels are carried up on the rising ground where 
the turf is short and the earth hard. Until stepped 
on and broken, the two halves of the shell are usually 
complete, and generally still attached, showing that 
the crow has split the shell open skilfully. They 
range from two or three to nine inches in length. 
The largest are much less common ; those of five or 
six inches are numerous. Some of the old-fashioned 
housewives use a nine-inch mussel-shell, well cleaned, 
as a ladle for their sugar jars. 
Now and then, at long intervals, an exceptionally 
dry season so lowers the level of the mere that all the 
