THE WESTERN GULL. 



727 



Split Rock, a bleak islet off Cape Elizabeth, is occupied by a colony of 

 these Western Gulls. When I visited it on the Twelfth day of July, igo6, 

 young birds, from infants to those half grown, were in hiding e\-ery where. 

 The danger sign had, of course, been passed around, and nut a }'oungster 

 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 rock by ancient rains, rather than 

 attract attention by scrambling out. One _\-oungster had e\identl\- been 

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

 the stick be- 

 tween h i s 

 ma ndibles, 

 as motionless 

 as a Pompe- 

 ian mummy. 

 In some 

 instances, if 

 the chick 

 k n e w him- 

 self discov- 

 ered, he felt 

 free to shift 

 his position 

 with a view 

 to better- 

 m e n t. But 

 instinct did 

 not serve a 

 whit to guide 

 the chicks in 

 such efforts, 

 and they 

 were as likely to topple oft' a precipice as to find a safer haven. 



A company of some hundred adults, fathers perhaps, lay oft'shore and 

 watched proceedings ; but the mothers gave me earnest attention. Three 

 times I was struck upon the head, always from behind, by vicious beaks, 

 while I was engaged in the benevolent task of gathering u]) babies for a 

 picture. A plague upon this photography of infants any wa}- ! It is appreci- 

 ated neither bv parent nor child. A gull-let in the bush is marble, but only 

 his rump is visible: while a chick in the hand is the squirmiest product 

 of nature. No, sir, he will not keep still, nor stay put for the pitiful 

 fraction of a second. Ergo, the gallerv of darlings is still incomplete. 



Taken at S^lit Rock. 



Photo by the Author. 



YOUNG WESTERN GUI.I.. 



