THE UNSQUEAMISH BIRD 31 



the places where it is clean. What the gull finds 

 there is a matter in dispute. It may be the ejecta 

 of the city, or it may be the little fishes which also 

 gather where the water contains a good deal more 

 than oxygen and nitrogen. Probably it is both. 

 If you wish a really good opportunity to make 

 photographic pictures of the romantic seamew, 

 there is no place to equal a city manure depot, 

 placed away among the fields and conveniently 

 fenced in. Their hours of labour are passed on 

 the wing, their hours of ease on the rail, and 

 at the time of afternoon repose it is lined with 

 them as tightly as they can squeeze. But though 

 the gulls have a hearty delight in a thoroughly 

 dirty place, it must be admitted that they always 

 manage to keep themselves spotlessly clean. They 

 have mastered the problem of touching dirt, 

 revelling in dirt, absorbing dirt, without themselves 

 becoming defiled, and that is more than humanity 

 has done. 



It might be supposed from all this that birds 

 have no sort of natural dislike of dirt. Generally 

 speaking, however, it can be said that as house- 

 keepers they are cleanly animals. With a few 

 exceptions, they keep their nests clean, and put 

 themselves to much pains to remove accumulations. 

 In short, they have a sanitary system which is 

 quite effective if not precisely nice. And where 

 there are exceptions, dirty homes are a result of 

 the birds' mode of feeding their young. Thus the 

 nest of the golden eagle, before its two young 

 inmates are able to take to the wing, might be 

 discovered by the sense of smell. When the 



