550 LARUS AKGENTATUS. 



some time before it had bred ou the flat ground in the 

 neighbourhood. " It is," Dr. Edmondston continues, " the 

 most elegant and sagacious of all our l)irds. Of all birds this 

 is the most indefatigable persecutor of the sportsman. At 

 all seasons it is the watchful guardian of all wild animals. 

 This habit, so generous and interesting, is, however, often 

 fatal to itself, by exciting the vindictive feelings of man. Its 

 carriage is stately and dignified. The young are generally 

 three in number, and long after they have left the nest the 

 parents continue to watch and feed them. Altogether it is a 

 most interesting and delightful bird. Those who have made 

 the name of Gull synonymous with stupidity have known 

 little of the Herring Gull, or they have meant the contrary to 

 what they have said. In spring it is found in flocks on the 

 corn fields, picking up whatever seed the harrow may have 

 left uncovered, and at this season it is excellent eating. The 

 change of food seems to produce a change of structure in the 

 stomach, which is then like the gizzard of poultry. A similar 

 change I have seen produced on the stomach of a tame 

 Raven, long fed on vegetable food, and this may lead to the 

 opinion that structure is not, at least of the soft parts, an 

 unerring or undeviating specific character. This and the 

 Larger and Lesser Black-backed Gulls are really omnivorous, 

 and hence they are the most frequent pets of the children of 

 the fishermen. The young of all of them before leaving the 

 nest are as delicate eating as young Pullets. They are here 

 called Skories." 



In the maritime Highlands and Hebrides young Gulls are 

 called Scairags, which I suppose is the same word modified. 

 As to the stomach, it is in all Gulls at all seasons muscular, 

 and if it assume more of the character of a gizzard by being 

 made to grind corn instead of digesting fish, this is not at all 

 wonderful. The fact was known to John Hunter. Similar 

 changes happen in other birds. I have seen the membranous 

 stomach of even the Snowy Owl become extremely thickened, 

 ap])arently from a similar cause. If all the Herring Gulls in 

 Shetland become granivorous in spring, and feed so long on 

 oat seed that their stomach is enlarged by it, they must be very 

 injurious lo the poor husbandmen. 



