308 THE BIRD WATCHER 
like evidence (and genty of it), and do not take 
conviction as proof. More, perhaps, than any other 
subject, natural history abounds with statements, the 
evidence for which there is often no getting at, or, if 
one does get at it, it amounts to very little. 
Oh, thou villain gull! What have I not just seen 
thee do? But heroics are out of place with animals, 
so I will just recount the incident in a staid, sober 
way. As, in my ascent of the cliff, 1 came over the 
crest of a green peak, a herring-gull flew up from the 
ground with something in its bill, which, as it mounted 
aloft, I saw to bea young puffin. It hung by the nape 
of the neck from the very tip of the gull’s beak, the 
legs dangling pitifully down—a pathetic spectacle—. 
though I could not make out any movement in it, 
indicating that it was alive. The gull made for the 
sea, and, crossing to one of the great “stacks” that 
stands frowning a little off the shore, mounted high 
above it, and then let the puffin fall. Down, down, 
down, and down it came, a horrible descent ; and I 
seemed to hear the far-off thud, as it struck that cruel 
rock. Then, in a second or two afterwards, the gull 
came circling down upon it, and began to feed upon 
the body, dragging it from this place to that, and 
seeming to fear a shag, which came up the stack 
towards it. I can hardly think it coveted the morsel, 
but I am reminded that I certainly saw another one 
with its beak at a dead kittiwake. No doubt, there- 
fore, it did, and thus, once again, the fact is driven 
home to me that there is no such thing as “always” 
