LITE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 93 



off duty usually stands near the nest, on guard, slipping onto the 

 nest when the sitting bird leaves. The 3^oung remain in the nest for 

 a few days and are brooded by their parents, who are very bold and 

 devoted in their defense. The young gulls soon learn to run about, 

 becoming very lively, and are taught by their parents to become ex- 

 perts in the art of hiding. Mr. Finley (1905) says : 



They teach their young to keep hidden and to lie close. I have seen more 

 than one gull impress this upon her children. One day I was walking along 

 a ledge and came abruptly to a place where I could look down the top slope. 

 Below me a few yards I saw two half-grown gulls ; one crouched beside a rock, 

 but the other started to run down the ridge He hadn't gone 2 yards before 

 the mother dove at him with a blow that knocked him rolling. He got up 

 dazed and struck off in a new direction, but she swooped again and rapped 

 him on the head till he seemed glad enough to crawl in under the nearest 

 weed. 



Occasionally we found the gulls very pugnacious. There was one mother 

 that had a nest of three young birds on a narrow ledge, and every time the 

 photographer approached her nest she would dart at him. She swooped at 

 his head with a loud bark, something like a watchdog ; at 6 or 8 feet distant she 

 dropped her legs and took a sharp clip with her feet. Twice she knocked the 

 hat from the intruder's head. 



Mr. Dawson (1909) visited a colony of this species in July and 

 found that: 



Young birds, from infants to those half grown, were In hiding everywhere. 

 The danger sign had, of course, been passed around, and not a youngster on 

 the island but froze in his tracks, no matter where he happened to be. It 

 was pathetic to find, as I did now and then, babes soaking heroically in the 

 filthy green pools left in hollows of the rocks by ancient rains rather than 

 attract attention by scrambling out. One youngster had evidently been nibbling 

 playfully at a bit of driftwood cast high up, for I found him with the stick 

 between his mandibles as motionless as a Pompeian mummy. 



So bold and solicitous were the anxious mothers in the defense of 

 their young that he was struck three times upon the head, ahva5'^s 

 from behind, hj vicious beaks while engaged in gathering up babies 

 for a picture. 



The young gulls are fed at first on semidigested foods, but their 

 parents soon begin to feed them on small fish and other animal 

 food. They become more omnivorous in their diet as they grow older, 

 and are very voracious feeders. Their parents keep watchful guard 

 over them until they are able to fly and will not let them attempt 

 this hazardous feat until the proper time comes. Mr. A. B. Howell 

 has noted that " if when full grown but still timid on their wings, 

 they are thrown into the air, they will essay unsteady flight and are 

 sure to be pounced upon by their elders, who, for some reason or 

 other, knock the youngsters heels over head as long as they remain in 

 the air" — a decided hint that the time for fliirht has not arrived. 



