Gull Habits 213 



About the rock where the gulls lived we had a splen- 

 did opportunity to study the home life of these birds. 

 We soon discovered that the greatest anxiety of the pa- 

 rents seemed to be to keep their children crouching low in 

 the nest, where they thought they would escape observa- 

 tion, and would not run away and get lost among so many 

 neighbors. I saw one young gull start to run off through 

 the grass, but he hadn't gone two yards before the mother 

 dove at him with a blow that sent him rolling. He got 

 up dazed and started off in a new direction, but she rapped 

 him again on the head till he was glad to crouch down 

 and lie hidden. It seemed also to be the duty of the 

 parents to beat their neighbors' children if they didn't stay 

 at home, for each mother recognized her own chicks 

 largely by location. 



He who would study the art of aerial navigation, 

 would do well to watch the gull's flight. I have often 

 looked at these birds as they hang in the air, or move 

 straight up in the teeth of the wind in the rear of one of 

 the ocean steamboats. They poise, resting apparently mo- 

 tionless on outstretched wing. It is a difficult feat. A 

 small bird cannot do it. A sparrow hawk can do it only 

 by the rapid beating of his wings. The gull seems to hang 

 perfectly still, yet there is never an instant when the wings 

 and tail are not constantly adjusted to meet the different 

 air currents, just as in shooting the rapids in a canoe the 

 paddle must be adjusted every moment to meet the differ- 

 ent eddies, currents, and whirlpools, which are never the 

 same at two different instants. These gulls are complete 

 masters of the air. A sail-boat can only tack against 

 the wind. A gull, by the perfect adjustment of his body, 



