158 Gossip about Gulls. [Sess. 



IV.— GOSSIP ABOUT GULLS. 



By Mrs JESSIE M. E. SAXBY. 



(Read Jan. 23, 1896.) 



Those of us who are familiar with this interesting family of 

 feathered folk know that they are in the habit of gossiping 

 about us. They discuss us to our faces with as much 

 impudence and penetration as Mark Twain's ravens exhibited 

 when criticising him. Therefore we need have no scruples 

 about retailing what we have seen and heard regarding 

 gulls. 



The Shetlanders use the name " scorie " for all gulls except 

 skuas, terns, and kittiwakes ; though, when wishing to be 

 more precise, they will tell you of a " white maa " (herring 

 gull), a " blue maa " (common gull), a " saithe gull " (lesser 

 black-back), or a " baagie " (greater black-back). But in 

 ordinary talk they use the term " scorie " precisely as we do 

 that of " gull." " Der wiz a murge 0' scories upo' da aire " 

 (there was a multitude of gulls upon the beach). " Da scories 

 wiz clanging i' da bauchs " (the gulls were screaming on the 

 cliffs). " We hae a bonnie peerie aulie scorie " (we have a 

 pretty little pet gull). 



My first acquaintance with gulls began with a lesser black- 

 back which had been brought, a baby ball of grey fluff, to our 

 home long before I was old enough to know a bird from a 

 bairn. She was located in our garden, and never cared to 

 leave it even when the gate was left open. One of her wings 

 had been injured at some period, which prevented her from 

 flying ; but in spring-time, when her congeners were flocking 

 to the fields close by, following the plough and talking over 

 their nursery preparations going on in the cliffs not far away, 

 then poor Cora grew restless and would scrape out a nest in 

 the garden mould, and would sit on it with a dream of mother- 

 hood in her breast. As she grew older she lost this habit. 

 Eggs were once or twice put into the nest, but she always 

 broke and devoured them. Cora was not very amenable to 

 kindness, and would as often as not smite the hand which 



