VOL. VII.] COURTSHIP OF COMMON GULL. 279 



cases the result was that the bird on the stone was 

 swooped at and buffeted by another, but I only once 

 saw a bird struck while behaving as in fig. 1. 



The third performance took place upon the ground, 

 among the long grass and raspberry canes which grew 

 upon the island. Two male birds walked side by side. 



Fig. 3. COMMON GULL: TO SHOW ATTITUDES ONE AND THREE. 

 {Photographed hy Miss M, D. Htiviland.) 



as closely as though they had been coupled together, 

 with their heads drawn in, as shown in the bird in 

 the foreground of fig. 3. The leg was bent until the 

 tarsus was almost on the ground, the whole body was 

 stiffened, and the bird uttered a curious guttural note. 

 While walking thus, the Gulls followed certain definite 

 tracks or runs in the herbage, but whether these runs 

 were made by these repeated promenades, or whether 

 they simply chose them as the easiest places to walk 

 in, I cannot say. I twice saw^ the male bird assume 

 this attitude before another bird which subsequently 

 proved to be a female, but I never saAv a female 

 act thus. 



