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THE MUSEUM. 



meet with success, before we are 

 aware of it the air is full of them, their 

 shrill notes penetrating the din of the 

 storm, and woe to the one that is 

 lucky enough to secure some eatable 

 object, for if it cannot swallow its food 

 at once it is chased by the others un- 

 til it eludes its pursuers or is compelled 

 to drop it, when some other gull quick- 

 ly secures it, while the original owner 

 commences searching for more. Should 

 they not find any more food at this 

 particular place, they quickly disperse, 

 only to repeat the same manceuvres 

 when some other fortunate bird at- 

 tracts their attention, and in this man- 

 ner they will follow the shore hour 

 after hour, seemingly tireless. 



Again our attention is attracted to 

 the Black-backed Gull. This species 

 is much larger than the preceding, and 

 while the Herring Gull may be seen 

 every day in large numbers, the Black- 

 back is seldom seen near the shore, 

 except during the most severe storms, 

 and then I do not think the ratio 

 would exceed one to three hundred of 

 the former. The reason for this is 

 that it is more pelagic than the Her- 

 ring Gull and unless it is driven in by 

 storms, few are seen. 



How gracefully it moves along, as 

 with slow and steady strokes of the 

 wings it moves against the wind, grad- 

 ually rising in air until a certain height 

 is gained, when with motionless wings 

 it glides off, quartering from the wind, 

 on a downward angle with the speed 

 of an arrow, until when about to strike 

 the crest of a wave, it suddenly mounts 

 upward with great rapidity, bringing 

 itself head to the wind and forging 

 ahead and upwards until the desired 

 height is reached, when it again re- 

 peats the same undulating movement. 

 Should it see any food floating on the 

 water, with a few graceful motions of 

 its wings it at once stops its speed and 

 returning, alights near the object, 

 stops for a moment, then resumes its 

 flight. Sometimes when the storm is 

 abating and the sun for a moment 

 shines out through the hurrying masses 



of dark clouds, then is the Black back 

 seen at its best; the light shining on 

 the pure white under parts in contrast 

 with the dark slate of the back and 

 upper parts of wings, making it appear 

 thejjmost beautiful of our pelagic spec- 

 ies 



During severe storms large bivalves 

 such as Cvprina islandica and the 

 Beach Clam (Heiiiiinactra solidissiina) 

 are washed upon the beaches Then 

 these species, especially the Herring 

 Gull, resort to such feeding grounds. 

 As the valves of the clams are too 

 thick and strong to be broken by their 

 bills, they will take one and rising 

 some fifty or more yards in the air, 

 drop it so it will strike on the hard 

 sand, repeating this mana;uvre until 

 the shell is broken, when they will 

 alight on the beach and extract the 

 contents to their own satisfaction. 

 Again, one or more of the Herring 

 Gulls may be seen associating with a 

 flock of ducks, sometimes sitting on 

 the water with them, at others, hov- 

 ering in air over them, waiting for one 

 to appear at the surface with some 

 choice morsel it has procured at the 

 bottom. As soon as the duck reaches 

 the surface and before it has time to 

 swallow its food, the gull will snatch 

 it and fly a few yards, alight on the 

 water and eat what it has stolen, re- 

 turning for more as soon as it has dis- 

 posed of what it already had. Some- 

 times the duck will elude the gull by 

 quickly diving, reappearing a few 

 yards away, and succeed in swallow- 

 ing its food before the gull can get it. 

 Although it has the appearance of an 

 overbearing thief, yet it recompenses 

 the ducks by its alertness for any dan- 

 ger, it being almost impossible for any 

 object to get near without it giving an 

 alarm. It would seem that the ducks 

 realized the protection of the gull, 

 since they permit it to rob them with- 

 without opposition and allow it to still 

 associate with them. 



I remember an incident of the 

 watchfulness of a Herring Gull which 

 was very distasteful to me At the 



