WATCHING GULLS AND SKUAS in 



for full three hours, when one, uttering a little 

 chattering, almost talking note, again launches him- 

 self from the verge and flies around for some three 

 or four minutes in the near neighbourhood, with a 

 frequent ' how, how, how.' He then re-settles just in 

 his old place behind the other, talks a little, again 

 flies off, returns and talks as before. The other gull 

 has remained motionless, or almost so, all the time, 

 and the two now stand silently as before." It seems 

 strange that the birds should first act so mutually 

 and then so independently of each other, but far 

 stranger, as it struck me, was the absolute instan- 

 taneousness with which, on the first occasion, they 

 both burst out screaming. 



It is possible that close attention to animals might 

 lead to evidence pointing in a new and unexpected 

 direction, but I will leave this for another chapter. 



Gulls have no very salient or pronounced courting 

 antics — I mean I have observed none — and, in the 

 same sense, there is no special display of the plumage 

 by one sex to the other. When amorous, they walk 

 about closely together, stopping at intervals and 

 standing face to face. Then, lowering their heads, 

 they bring their bills into contact, either just touching, 

 or drawing them once or twice across each other, or 

 else grasping with and interlocking them like pigeons, 

 raising then, a little, and again depressing the heads 

 with them thus united, as do they. After this they 

 toss up their heads into the air, and open and close 

 their beaks once or twice in a manner almost too 

 soft to be called a snap. Sometimes they will just 

 drop their heads and raise them again quickly, with- 

 out making much action with the bills. This is 



