28o Bird- Lore 



of grass, mosses, seaweed, and bits of soft driftwood formed into a shallow 

 bowl. If the edges of this crumble or flatten while the birds are sitting, 

 they use bunches of fresh grass or seaweed to keep it in repair, with the 

 result that the nest is not only a very tasteful object, but it blends perfectly 

 with its surroundings. 



The eggs are very interesting because no two are of the same color, 

 being of every shade of blue and gray, from the color of summer sky and sand 

 to the tint of the many-colored, water-soaked rocks themselves. The markings 

 vary also in shape and size, and are in every shade of brown, 

 " ^ through lilac and purple, to black. The parents are very devoted 



to their nests, and take turns in sitting. When the young are first 

 hatched, though covered with down, they are very weak in the neck and help- 

 less; but in the course of a few hours the little Gulls are strong enough to walk, 

 and the instinct to hide at the approach of anything strange comes to them 

 very suddenly, so that a Gull only three or four hours old will slip out of the 

 nest, and either hide beneath a few grass blades or flatten itself in the sand, 

 where, owing to its spotted, color-protective down, it is almost 

 oung invisible, so well does Nature care for her children — provided 

 that man does not interfere. When a Gull nests in a tree, how- 

 ever, the little birds, not feeling the same necessity for hiding, do not try to leave 

 the nest until the growth of their wings will let them fly. 



On the sea beaches, squids and marine refuse are fed to the young Gulls, 

 but where they have nested near fresh, instead of salt, water many insects gleaned 

 from the fields are eaten. 



It was in the Gulls' nesting season that the plunderers chose to go to their 

 island haunts, steal the eggs, and kill the parent birds, whose devotion, like 

 that of the WTiite Heron, left old the birds at the mercy of the plume hunters. 



M:\\ YORK HARBOR 



