428 THE GULL. 



America, to England, foundered, and left her miserable 

 inmates on the wide ocean, hourly expecting to be swal- 

 lowed up by the heavy seas, which were constantly 

 breaking over the crowded boats. It was on the even- 

 ing of the sixth day after quitting the wreck*, just before 

 night set in, that a beautiful white bird, " web-footed, 

 and not unlike a Dove in size and plumage, hovered over 

 the mast-head of the cutter; and, notwithstanding the 

 pitching of the boat, frequently attempted to perch on 

 it, and continued fluttering there till dark. Trifling as 

 this circumstance may appear," continues the writer of 

 the narrative, " it was considered by us all as a propi- 

 tious omen. The impressive manner in which it left us, 

 and returned to gladden us with its presence, awakened 

 in us a superstition, to which sailors are at all times 

 said to be prone. We indulged ourselves, on this occa- 

 sion, with the most consolatory assurances that the 

 same Hand which had provided this solace to our dis- 

 tresses, would extricate us from the dangers that sur- 

 rounded us." 



We come next to the numerous class of Gulls, a class 

 which the sailor is sure to find wherever he goes, whe- 

 ther under the burning sun of the tropical regions, or 

 the frozen icebergs of the Arctic circle, and always bear- 

 ing the same restless, noisy character. They have been 

 named, and justly so, the scavengers of the sea, for no- 

 thing comes amiss to their voracious appetite. Loath- 

 some as may be the putrefying carrion left on the beach, 

 to the Gull it is just as acceptable as a meal on the finest 

 and freshest fish. On either they will gorge almost to 

 suffocation ; and in that state may be taken up torpid 

 and insensible. Some years ago, in riding with a friend 

 -on the sea-shore, we espied a Gull lying motionless on 

 the sand, apparently dead; but, as its eyes were open, 

 life was clearly not extinct. Suspecting it to be a 

 wounded bird, we alighted to examine the extent and 

 nature of the injuries it had received ; but not a drop of 

 * Narrative of the loss of the Lady Hobart packet. 



