HERRING-GULL. 211 



parapet. In some seaside resorts — Llandudno, for example — 

 the charity of visitors is rewarded by contident familiarity ; 

 both young and old birds have taken food from my hand as 

 they stood on the sea-wall. The bird usually rests on one leg, 

 the long body horizontal, the head sunk in the shoulders, and 

 when on the beach, head to wind. 



Its feeding habits are similar to those of the Common Gull ; 

 it drops crabs and molluscs to smash them, though in my 

 experience less frequently than the other species ; it also dances 

 in wet sand or at the edge of the waves ; I have seen it 

 marking time and swaying slightly until its legs were entirely 

 hidden in the sand. It will occasionally dive for food, though 

 somewhat awkwardly. On fields near the shore it follows the 

 plough, but on cultivated land does not confine its attention 

 to "pests," for its cast-up pellets, which with broken shells and 

 claws of crabs litter the cliff-top, often contain husks of oats or 

 other grain. All gulls are egg-robbers, looting unguarded nests 

 of other sea-birds, and occasionally scouring the moors and 

 fields ; the Herring-Gull is no exception. The bird has a loud 

 and strident voice, which may trail off into a mournful wail ; 

 usual more cheerful notes are a plaintive, cat-like mew and a 

 round full hoh^ hoh, hoh. It has a defiant kehoh, and a harsh 

 ha, ha, ha, a threat rather than alarm note when the breeding 

 colony is invaded, but when the bird is specially annoyed this 

 becomes a barking and rapid wow, ow, ow. The challenge, 

 uttered with uplifted, wide-open beak, is clear and ringing. 



The nests are in colonies on the grassy slopes and ledges of 

 high cliffs, or on grassy islands. At times the nest is sheltered 

 by a rock, but is often in the open, and in one colony many 

 were in thick alexanders, and others amidst cushions of thrift, 

 surrounded by hyacinths ; the flowers of the last plant had been 

 picked to decorate the edge of one nest. Some nests were close 

 to a trodden path, others on the wall of a ruin. 



The nests are built of a variable quantity of roots, grass, and 



