ther evidencing her compassion, scooped up some 

 mussels, and breaking one open threw the meat 

 toward the famished bird. Weakened as it un- 

 doubtedly was, it showed extraordinary vigor in 

 snatching the food which was offered, catching the 

 morsels in mid-air as fast as they were tossed. Des- 

 pite the handicaps under which it labored, it was 

 unerring in its method, never once missing the fly- 

 ing fragments of mussel-meat. 



But a more amazing evidence of this peculiar 

 alertness was presently to be seen. Picking up a 

 small piece of cork from the bottom of the boat, I 

 sent this the bird's way. It was ignored completely. 

 Somehow, probably through its sense of smell more 

 than through its sense of sight, the gull was able 

 to distinguish in the short space of time that the 

 cork took to travel from my hand, that it was in- 

 edible. Repeated trials, alternating cork, wood, 

 and even bread — which this breed seems not to eat 

 — with mussel-meat and an occasional minnow — of 

 which it is fond — failed to betray it into making 

 a single mistake. 



By the time we reached the shore, our helpless 

 waif had regained sufficient strength to walk 

 around the bottom of the dinghy. There we left it 



[206] 



