Birgus the Bobber. 
*33 
The oft-repeated statement that the robber 
crab ascends the coconut tree and there husks 
the nut is only a traveller’s story, although, if 
it cannot find a fallen nut, and other food be 
unobtainable, it will, if it can discover a short 
coconut tree bearing fruit, ascend it, and, nipping 
the stalk, let it fall. It will then descend to 
the ground, and proceed, not to tear off the 
husk, but to make a hole in the soft, fleshy part 
of the top, and thus reach the interior. At the 
same time a full-grown robber crab, if it cannot 
find a young nut, makes no difficulty of tearing 
off the husk of an old, fully-matured one. Bit 
by bit it strips off the tough, wiry covering 
until the “ monkey’s face ” is revealed. Into 
the “ eye ” of this it inserts the tip of one of its 
sharp claws, and works out a space sufficiently 
large to at last permit it to begin operations on 
the hard shell with his nippers. Then it snaps 
away piece after piece till the orifice is large 
enough to allow it to clean out the entire nut, 
which is left scraped of every remnant of 
pulp - 
The fatty, blue-coloured tail of these 
creatures is esteemed a great delicacy by the 
natives of the equatorial islands of the Pacific, 
