Peculiarities of Birds 105 



PECULIARITIES OF BIRDS. 



THE Herring Gull, the old ones of this species usually 

 being called the summer gull and the youthful 

 members the grey gull, is usually well represented 

 on most of our coastings. During the fishing seasons in 

 spring and autumn, when the fish offal supplies them with 

 an abundance of welcome fare, hundreds of them assemble 

 near the shore ; in the early summer months by far the 

 larger majority of these are old individuals in snow-white 

 plumage. 



At such times the scene presented to the eye of an 

 observer is truly wonderful. They spread themselves in 

 a motley crowd, at all heights above the sea up to two or 

 three hundred feet ; they soar about confusedly among 

 each other, crossing eacn other's paths, ascending and 

 descending, amid frequent utterance of their loud, clear- 

 sounding ' ' kliau, kliau, kliau ! " 



Still more beautiful is the scene when, momentarily dis- 

 turbed by a boat, the whole flock rises in circling flight 

 above the elevated sandhill or cliff, and there, in the 

 calm, clear atmosphere, soars about on motionless 

 expanded wings, neither lowering nor ascending, but per- 

 forming revolutions in beautiful curves and ciicles, until 

 the object (boat probably) having disappeared, the birds 

 once more return to their previous occupations. 



In my previous notes I have dealt with the altitude of 

 the migration flight, and I have found that these gulls, 

 and in fact the majority of birds, are endowed with quali- 

 ties and capacities by means of which they are enabled, 

 according to their needs, to neutralise and overcome the 

 general and established laws of gravity, without making 

 use of the mechanical powers of their wings, or being 

 supported by atmospheric currents. Not only are these 

 gulls able to soar in a calm atmosphere in a direction 

 straight before them, or sideways, on outspread wings, 

 Dut, like the buzzard, they can also, in a manner similar 

 to theirs, soar upwards to any desired altitude. 



