CHAPTER . Vil 
BIRD SYMPATHY 
ee is my third here upon the island 
—I was actually assaulted by the terns. I saw 
a young one, now well advanced, that flew for a little 
and then went down on the grass. Walking towards 
it, a bird—presumably one of the parents—descended 
upon me twice in succession, and, with that angry and 
piercing cry that I have spoken or ought to have 
spoken of—it sounds very like a shrill ‘ bah !”— 
delivered a fierce peck at my head, so that I felt it 
each time, quite unpleasantly, through the thin cloth 
of my cap. The difference is to be noted in this form 
of attack, to that employed by gulls and skuas, the 
former in battles ivzer se only, and the latter as against 
man in defence of their eggs or young. Both of 
them, when they thus “ swoop to their revenge,” use 
the feet only, and the superiority of the tern’s method 
is so great that it makes this small bird almost as 
redoubtable—if this exaggerated word may be par- 
doned—as even the largest of the others. The Great 
Skua, especially, were it to use its powerful beak, 
would be really formidable, even to aman. In fight- 
ing with its fellows, it no doubt does so, and gulls, 
under these circumstances, make the greatest use of 
theirs. This, however, is when they struggle together 
on the ground ; but when one fights on the ground 
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