Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/202

Rh The walk was fatiguing; the glare from the perpendicular precipice, an unbroken face of white chalk reflecting the rays of a July sun, was most oppressive to the eyes, soon inducing frontal headache; and the loose shingle alternating with looser sand afforded no firm hold for the sinking and sliding footsteps. My two lads ran before, chasing, with great glee, the young gulls, almost fledged, which had descended in some unintelligible manner, from their nest-ledges up the precipice, but were unable to fly. Cutting off their retreat to the water, the boys chased them till the poor things sought refuge in some corner of the cliff, where of course they were easily caught. They brought home two, nearly grown, which I believe they kept in their gardens for some time. They were probably the Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus), though, as several species breed about these cliffs, which present little difference in their nesting plumage, I cannot be certain.

A heap of broken rocks, half exposed at lowest water, lies off the corner that terminates the beach. It is known to the fishermen by the name of the Cow and Calf. These rocks I wished to examine for Algæ, and found my search not fruitless. The species were growing from the broken fragments of fallen chalk in considerable abundance, and the specimens were particularly well-grown. Among them a pretty species was common, which I had not observed at Weymouth,—Chylocladia ovalis. I have compared the ramuli of C. articulata to bladders of red wine, set in chains; those of the present species are still more like such bladders, but more oval, and set in rows