38 Strong, Habits of the Herring Gull. [j^. 



been straining, as though expecting to find something there. Other 

 gulls were from time to time attracted to the scene, but were 

 promptly chased away by this bird, who ran rapidly at them with 

 open beak and outspread wings. Perhaps half an hour after these 

 efforts began I saw a portion of a fish appear in its mouth, and a 

 moment later it was deposited on the ground, when the young 

 promptly seized it. The fish appeared to be a herring about 7 or 8 

 inches long and so mascerated that it readily fell apart. The adult 

 assisted in breaking it up, and I saw it pick out the vertebral 

 column, which it dropped with the other pieces." 



"The young fed mostly from the ground, but occasionally 

 snatched a piece from the bill of the adult .... After some minutes 

 I noticed that regurgitation was apparently to be repeated, and in 

 about a quarter of an hour the remains of another fish were depos- 

 ited on the ground and disposed of in the same manner." 



The newly hatched young, according to my observations are more 

 passive, and I obtained some evidence that the parent may initiate 

 the feeding performance. Similar conditions occur in the feeding 

 of young pigeons. On June 30, 1911, while taking observations 

 on one of the Strawberry Islands, a pair of gulls whose nest was 

 about five feet from the base of my tent fed two young not many 

 hours old and still too weak to walk well, at irregular intervals 

 within eight to ten feet from my point of observation. The little 

 gulls had been coaxed away from their nest for a few feet by their 

 parents, a distance which they covered with difficulty. 



The following notes concerning the observations just mentioned 

 tave been taken from my note book. The bird shading its young 

 was relieved at 12:40 P . M., and went down to the water for a drink. 

 The other parent at once proceeded to feed the young gulls while 

 the first bird stood a few feet away at the edge of the water. The 

 adult bird did not insert its bill in the mouth of its offspring but the 

 latter took food from the ground just below the bill of the parent. 

 Occasionally the young reached up towards the bill of the parent 

 which was held low, often almost at the ground (see Plate V, 

 Fig. 2). A quantity of food in a fine and soft condition was dis- 

 gorged in more or less of a heap. After the young had eaten, the 

 parent swallowed what was left. These very young birds ate 

 slowly, apparently without much appetite. The whole perform- 

 ance passed off quietly and with no rapid movements. 



