314 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



carried heavy punishment with it. Why some of 

 the elders of the community should tramp miles 

 across the flats to see those vessels dash into open 

 water, and give them a hearty parting cheer, I did 

 not understand then. 



Those vessels would dash round and about the 

 sands, and other dangerous places, like the Cobs 

 that had given them notice to go out, ready to help 

 any ship in distress. Lights and lifeboats had not 

 been developed in the magnificent manner they 

 now have been. Salvage, of course, was one very 

 powerful incentive, but that was not all ; that came 

 in afterwards — their hearts were in the right places, 

 and beat all right. The crews of those luggers, and 

 others as well, risked their lives to the very utmost 

 to save both ship and crew, the crew first. 



Hovelling, or hovering, names for wrecking a 

 ship in distress, was not in fashion on the shores 

 where I have watched and studied the Great Cob. 



The Lesser Black-backed Gull, when in the 

 company of its larger relative, is not to be distin- 

 guished from it at a distance. It is only when 

 the boats are out fishing that the larger Gulls 

 come near enough for their species to be made out 

 with any precision. Old birds are mixed up with 

 those of the first and second states of plumage. As 

 we have not had them long enough in a captive 

 state to note the time required for them to complete 

 their full featherings, we must accept the opinions 

 of old shore-shooters, that it takes at the least three 

 years for Gulls to reach the perfect state of plumage. 



