TREASURE-TROVE AT THE SHORE 239 
any autumn or winter afternoon, so long as the channel is 
free from ice, they may be seen flying about as fearless 
as a flock of domestic Pigeons.” 
“Here on our beach they are scary enough,” said 
Tommy. “ Why, the other day I tried every way to creep 
up close to some of them, but I never could; they were 
always up and off, sometimes without saying a word, and 
sometimes screeching, ‘ Yuka-yuka-yuka,’ enough to 
frighten any one. Pop says that, way back when he was 
a boy, and there weren’t any laws to prevent shooting 
anything except the game-birds out of season, that these 
birds were just as scary, so that the best shots used to 
go down on the bar and try to hit a Gull, not to eat, but 
for the sake of being called a good shot, because Gulls 
were harder to get than old leader Crows.”’ 
“That is the very reason why Gulls alongshore are 
afraid now. For so many years they have served as 
targets for Duck hunters, and people who did not realize 
what they were destroying, that fear has become an in- 
stinct. Now in the nesting-haunts, where they are pro- 
tected, they are gradually becoming more and more 
tame. About the harbours of cities and parks, where 
shooting has never been allowed for other reasons than 
bird protection, they fly about unconcernedly and exhibit 
little alarm.” 
“Are Gulls any real use, except that they are nice to 
look at and watch fly?” asked Dave, presently, as Bob- 
bie’s bird was being passed from desk to desk. 
“Yes, the Harbour Gulls are useful in many ways, and 
would be more so if man would protect them fully every- 
where, as they do in some countries and in some of the 
