THE OSPREY. 



ocean unless it has followed a vessel, which it will Gulls are always hanging upon the flanks of a 

 often continue to do until the craft makes a port or storm, and hovering about tide-ways, because the big 



waves cast up all sorts of food for them and it collects 



goes to pieces, except during the breeding season. By 

 this habit they are often caught out in tempests be- 

 fore they can reach the land Sailors in the 'dol- 

 drums,' (tropical dead calms,) have great sport with 

 them, and they often help to beguile a tedious hour. 

 During long voyages they become familiarly known 

 by names which are given to them, and each will 



in the tideways, just as it does in the middle current 

 of a river. It is because trash and refuse collect in 

 a tideway that small littoral fish gather there to feed. 

 Bigger fish, pelagic, follow them in-shore, and it is to 

 get the morsels of chopped fish, which the Bluefish, 



have a sponsor among the crew, who are in the habit Rockfish, Mackerel and other fish have mangled and 



them when they hap- left floating, that the Gulls are there. But Gulls are 



Sometimes Jack plays fond of Mussels and Clams, as well as of flotsam, and 



For example, he in certain places they gather in great flocks and 



feed and croon, wad- 



of tossing scraps to 

 pen to be off duty, 

 them sorry pranks, 

 will tie several long 

 pieces of sail twine 

 together in the mid- 

 dle, with pieces of fat 

 pork attached to each 

 end, and cast them 

 over the stern. Pres- 

 ently a Gull comes 

 along and scoops up 

 one piece of pork ; 

 then a second follows 

 and swallows another 

 piece ; others pick up 

 the rest, and so they 

 all get fastened to- 

 gether ; and as soon as 

 they attempt to fly, 

 one after another is 

 compelled to disgorge 

 his piece. This per- 

 formance is continued 

 until the much-tantal- 

 ized birds are discour- 

 aged and the specta- 

 tors are tired of the 

 ors will throw out 

 Gulls do not relish. 



CHIMNEY SWIFT. BY FUERTES. 



Copyright, 1897, by The Macmillan Co 



fun. Again, the sail- 

 morsels which the 

 and it is most inter- 



esting to notice the unerring instinct with which 

 they decline them after the most cursory inspection. 

 For instance, if two paper wads be tossed over the 

 stern, one containing meat and the other empty, the 

 Gulls will infallibly reject the bad and select the 



dling about on the 

 mud-flats and sand- 

 bars, and enjoying 

 themselves. So, also, 

 in northern latitudes 

 they gather on float- 

 ing ice cakes by hun- 

 dreds, — and even up- 

 on the gigantic ice- 

 bergs which come 

 drifting down the 

 north Atlantic coast. 

 In calm weather, salt- 

 water Gulls are almost 

 as liable to be found 

 sailing leisurely over 

 some large inland 

 fresh-water lake as to 

 be hunting the seaside 

 for what they can 

 glean. 



When tamed and 

 kept aboard ship, as 

 the writer has observed them, they are very little in- 

 clined to leave the vessel under any pretext, but be- 

 have more like domesticated ducks than anything else. 

 They prefer to hug the cook's galley and the mess ta- 

 ble rather than range abroad on foraging excursions. 

 They are also as mischievous and playful as tame 

 Crows. Indeed, they are not at all the spook-winged 



J -^u ^ J ■ ^, 1 f (T . spirits of unrest which fancy has portrayed them, but 



good, without dropping nearer than a couple 01 reet ^ j f . • 



of the empty one, and not once attempting to e.xamine awkward and ungainly objects cast in a mould which 



or open it. Is it acuteness of smell which enables seems far from ethereal. But only give them a high 



them to distinguish, or is it a perceptive faculty that toss skyward, and a transformation is effected, as 



mortals wot not of ? beautiful as it is startling. 



BENDIRE'S THRASHER IN COLORADO. 



PROF. \V. W. COOKE, FORT COLLINS, COL. 



ON the morning of May 8, 1882, Mr. William "That it should have been overlooked by all the 



Brewster shot a single Bendire's Thrasher earlier explorers in Arizona is probably a result of its 



{Hai-porhytichns hendirei)zX Colorado Springs, extremely local distribution ; in fact, it is only known 



Colorado. Writing about this bird but a few years to inhabit a very restricted area in Southern Arizona, 



previous, Dr. Coues, its original describer, had said ; in the vicinity of Tucson." This was the way the 



