126 THE BIRD WATCHER 
then, with languishing#estures and expression, keep 
moving them about from side to side, uttering whilst 
they do so, but by no means always, a hoarse, unlovely 
sort of note, like a series of hoarse coughs or grunts, 
as though in anger—and indeed, it is uttered in anger, 
too. But though these motions, with the distension 
of the jaws, always, as far as I have seen, accompany 
the note when it is uttered, yet they are often con- 
tinued afterwards, and sometimes commence and end 
in silence, so that one has to conclude that they are 
themselves of importance, and may have as much, or 
even more, to do with the expression of the bird’s 
feelings as the vocal utterance has. 
It is difficult to give an adequate idea of the strange, 
lackadaisical appearance which these birds present 
while acting in the above-described manner. With 
widely-gaping bills, swelled throats, necks stretched 
out, and heads moving slowly all about, now up, now 
down, now to this side, now to that, they look some- 
times “sick of love,” like Solomon, and sometimes as 
though about to be sick indeed—in fact, on the point 
of vomiting. All the bird’s actions are peculiar, but 
none more so than this wide gaping distension of the 
mandibles, with the full view that it offers of the whole 
interior cavity of the mouth. This last is not indeed 
brilliant, as is that of the kittiwake, but, for all that, 
it is very pleasing, of a delicate mauvy blue, esthetic 
in its appearance, and in harmony with the soft and 
delicate tinting of the plumage. There is no reason to 
suppose that the latter beauty is unappreciated by the 
