VO, i906 m ] Anthony, Pacific Coast Gulls. 135 



I have often seen gulls of different species on finding a clam on 

 the beach, which was not to be opened by vigorous hammering, 

 carry the bivalve up twenty-five or thirty feet and let it drop. Evi- 

 dently the bird had the principle but lacked application, for the 

 clam was as often dropped on a soft sand beach as otherwise, and 

 after repeated attempts the gull seemed unable to understand why 

 the shell was not broken. Possibly a few yards distant a rocky 

 beach would have furnished all that was necessary to make the 

 effort successful. On the other hand, I have seen a gull seemingly 

 reason out a more difficult problem, more difficult because not such 

 as would often confront a gull in a state of nature. 



I was one day watching some Western Gulls, a few yards from 

 me on a wharf, when a large piece of salted fish was thrown out 

 from an adjacent boat house. It fairly glistened with a thick in- 

 crustation of salt, and I was somewhat curious to see if the gulls 

 would eat food so highly seasoned. No sooner had it fallen than 

 it was siezed upon by a gull and as quickly swallowed; but from 

 the surprised actions of the bird it was evidently not to his liking; 

 no sooner had it reached the stomach than it was ordered out again. 

 Dropping the fish on the wharf, the bird eyed it for a moment, 

 turning its head from side to side, and, to judge from its soliloquy, 

 made a number of uncomplimentary remarks on the depraved 

 tastes of mankind that would spoil good fish in that manner. Then 

 picking up the fish it flew down to the water and holding it under 

 the surface shook its head from side to side violently 'sozzeling' 

 the meat about for several seconds. It was then taken back to the 

 wharf, laid down and inspected, and carefully sampled; this time, 

 however, it was not bolted as at first but held for a moment in the 

 mouth and again rejected, and carried back to the water where it 

 was even more roughly laundered. This operation was repeated 

 several times and the piece of fish, which must have weighed four 

 ounces at the outset, was reduced to half that size before it reached 

 a state of freshness that suited the palate of the gull. 



During the nesting season the gulls of our Pacific coast play sad 

 havoc with the eggs and young of nearly all of the species of sea 

 birds that nest in exposed situations; nor are the auks and petrels 

 in their burrows immune, for I have seen a Western Gull pull a 

 Cassin's Auklet from a somewhat more shallow burrow than usual 



