When the Wind bloweth in from the Sea. 173 



All the air meanwhile is crowded with flying gulls, 

 beating up against the wind — now hovering above some 

 waif floating in the water ; now swooping down to dip 

 the surface ; now rising with a fish that shows a 

 moment as a gleam of silver in its captor's beak. 



It is a mingled crew that fights its way against the 

 gale. These, by their slight figures and their delicate 

 garb of white and lavender, are kittiwakes. 



Yonder great bird in brown is a herring-gull : not 

 until his fifth year will he change his youthful dress for 

 perfect plumage. 



Here comes a black-headed gull : not black-headed 

 now, and wearing but a single spot of that neat dark 

 hood that will appear all at once in the spring. 



He is struggling hard against the wind. Now he 

 hangs motionless a moment ; now he sails in swift and 

 graceful curves across the wind ; now he dips towards 

 the water, followed in an instant by a score of eager 

 screaming comrades. 



Now he gives in to the gale, and in a moment is 

 swept a hundred yards down the wind. But, undis- 

 mayed, he still holds on, and before long has fought 

 his way in shore again, and now settles down on one 

 of the crowded ledges, whose tenants greet the new- 

 comer with a sort of querulous chorus. 



Now a herring-gull drifts over, a full-grown bird this 

 time, so near that we can see not only the spotless 

 purity of his breast and the black tips of his wings, but 

 the white of his keen eyes and the red stain upon his 



