TOWN GULLS ft 



it is almost painful to speculate upon the grossly 

 prosaic nature of his real thoughts. There seems 

 to be little doubt that the town-frequenting habits 

 of the gulls are of recent origin. Certainly the 

 habit has developed enormously in the last twenty 

 or thirty years, and unsavoury thought some 

 authorities have traced it to the development of 

 modern sanitary systems. The gulls revel in sewer 

 outfalls, though, perhaps, the attraction in their 

 case is secondary, for the sewer draws to it many 

 species of small fish on which gulls feed. But they 

 are foul feeders themselves, and scorn no garbage. 

 Whatever be the cause, they delight in the life 

 of towns. The ridge of a roof is an excellent 

 place for them to perch upon, and if a human 

 citizen cares to offer those feathered citizens food 

 they will quickly discover his good intentions, and 

 no false pride will stand in the way of their 

 accepting his charity. And generally the human 

 citizen is interested in his gulls. They are charm- 

 ing objects on a river front, whether swimming 

 with the tide or sailing on easy wing. Their 

 readiness to " come to be fed," their deftness in 

 catching a thrown morsel, the perfection and dainty 

 spotlessness of their plumage, all dispose him to 

 reckon them among the redeeming amenities of 

 his environment ; and in some places, as in 

 London, they have stirred in him an almost pro- 

 prietary interest. 



But the moment comes when the gulls must 

 seek the haunts of their ancestors. Sitting for the 

 last time on the great pipe which has been their 

 town seat for many months, the conversation that 



