[21] SEA BIRDS AS BAIT FOR CATCHING CODFISH. 331 



which it has so dexterously stoleu. On the other haud, three or four 

 birds may succeed iu gettiug hokl of the liver which is half swallowed 

 by the first ; but they usually content themselves with having merely 

 obtained a taste of the precious tidbit which may be finally torn into pieces 

 and swallowed by a half dozen of their more fortunate companions. The 

 voracity with which the gluttonous kittiwake swallows the bait usually 

 insures its capture with hook and line. 



This species does not, however, leave its breeding-ground along the 

 coast nor appear upon the fishing-banks until late in autumn, and there- 

 fore the " shack-fishermen " cannot depend upon it for bait, as they do 

 on the hagdon, for, by this time, they have generally nearly completed 

 their fares, and in some cases have returned to their home port. 



Some years ago, when the codfishermen used to remain on the Grand 

 Banks later in the season than they do now, sometimes staying as late as 

 November, or possibly longer, large quantities of kittiwake gulls were 

 used for bait. 



Some of the fishermen relish the bird, which, when properly cooked, 

 makes a not unsavory dish at sea. Such a dish cannot, of course, be 

 compared to spring chicken ; but a " pot-pie " made of kittiwake gulls 

 would probably not be regarded with indifierence even by the most fas- 

 tidious, and as served in some instances which have ])assed under my 

 own observation, it was a very good substitute for the conventional 

 turkey for a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.* 



The food of the kittiwake gull usually consists of small fish and Crus- 

 tacea, which it is able to obtain near the surface of the water; but on 

 the fishing-banks many of these birds procure a considerable i)ortion, 

 perhaps, of their food from the offal thrown overboard by the crews of 

 the fishing vessels. Its subsistence, however, at this season is exceed- 

 ingly precarious, and it is generally found with little food in its stomach 

 and very poor in flesh. Although the kittiwake approaches a vessel 

 or boat with considerable boldness, coming as it often does within a few 

 feet of the side of either and recklessly darting almost within arms' 

 length of a man engaged in throwing out a trawl, it nevertheless ex- 

 hibits a remarkable timidity when a gun is fired. The most noisy and 

 greedy gulls which have been screaming around the vessel are rendered 

 cautious and comi^aratively quiet by one or two discharges of a musket, 

 and for some time it is ditficult to entice them back. However, when 

 one or two, bolder than the rest, have succeeded in i^ossessing them- 

 selves of some coveted morsel, the rest take courage, and in a few min- 



* Capt. Henry O. Smith is autliority for stating that kittiwake gulls, and occasion- 

 ally some of the larger species, are caught for food by the Newfoundland fishermen 

 iu winter, a common rat trap being used to eft'ect the capture. The trap is firmly se- 

 cured to a piece of board, baited with a fish liver, and allowed to float down astern 

 of the anchored boat on which the crew is engaged in fishing foi- cod or other species. 

 The greedy gull sees the tempting morsel, makes a dash to secure it, and snap go the 

 jaws of the trap, nipping the unfortunate bird iu its grasp. This is relocated over and 

 over asain. 



