734 



THE CALIFORNIA GULL. 



instant silence. E\'ery gi"a\- bolt is launched at the falling l)reafl and the 

 water where it must pause. Crasli ! And the clanKir l)ursts nut afresh, for 

 the luckless many must voice their disappointment while the lucky one gulps 

 down the prize and hurries hack fur nmre. 



Gulls do nut ortliuarily di\e, fur thev are light as corks. Thex- snatch 

 their food rather from the surface of the water. If there is plentv. as 

 when the cook dumps the accumulated lea\'ings f r( 'Ui the captain's lahle, 

 the gulls settle gracefully up(.in the water and thrcnv the morsels down In' 

 rapidly succeeding jets of the head. 



The more experienced birds learn t(.) catch bread on the wing, and 

 the disclosure of such ability guarantees 

 its owner a full meal. It is no small 

 trick to catch a bit of tlying bread 

 in the teeth of the wind, for it 

 is sometimes a nice fraction 

 of a second between the be- 

 stowing hand and the bird's 

 beak. 



Long before the bread gives 

 out you have been seized afresh 

 with wonder at the mystery 

 of that gliding flight. Grace- 

 ful, effortless, untiring, but 

 above all mysterious, is that 

 power of propulsion by which 

 the bird moves forward into the 

 teeth of the gale, — indeed, is ad 

 \'anced all the more certainl\- an( 

 freelv when the wind is strong. 



From the 



deck o 



f a steamer making 



fifteen miles an hour against a fif- 

 teen knot breeze, I once stretclied 

 m\- hand toward a soaring gull I 

 flutter of a feather, while the aii" 



Taken in SL^iiltle. 



From a I'hotogrnph, Copyright , 1907, by W . /,. Ihuisou. 



SUCCESS. 

 CALIFORNIA GULL SNATCHING BREAD FROM WATER. 



e la\' suspended in midair withont the 

 rushed past him at the rale of thirty 

 miles an hour: and he maintained the same relative ]iosition to ni\- hand, 

 at five or six feet, for about a minute. When he tired of the game, he 

 shot forward. And again, there was not in the motion the slightest per- 

 ceptible effort of proi)ulsion, but only a slight])- sliarper inclination of the 

 body and wings downward. ^^'e see clearl\- how it must be: }'et we 

 cannot understand it. The gull is a kite and gra\ity the string. The 

 bird is a continually falling bod)', and the \\'ind is continually jirevent- 

 ing the catastrojihe. Yes, we see it — but then. gra\'ity isn't a string, 



