76 ODD HOURS WITH NATURE 



gulls dive, they are quite unable to follow the 

 larger fish. From time to time they are able to 

 pounce upon a fish too big to be swallowed at a 

 gulp, and when that happens there is a strong 

 probability that the captor will be mobbed by 

 his own kind till he drops the prize. But even 

 when a gull has swallowed his fish he is not sure 

 of it. The skuas are great gull robbers, and 

 there is reason for suspecting that they have quite 

 abandoned the habit of hunting for themselves. 

 Instead of doing so they watch the gulls, and 

 when one takes a fish in the sight of these bullies 

 it is chased and battered till it disgorges. Then 

 the fish is caught by the robber as it falls. This 

 particular experience of gull life has affected the 

 gull's way of thinking in all emergencies. It is 

 in its natural state accustomed to escape a great 

 annoyance, and even danger, by disgorging its 

 food, and under totally different conditions it tries 

 the same expedient. Thus if a tame gull in a 

 garden is chased by its owner it imagines that he 

 is after its last worm. It will run, but as soon 

 as the chase becomes critical it will " up with 

 it," croaking out in gull language, " There, then, 

 have it," and it is mightily surprised if the chase 

 is continued after that. Considering that gulls 

 are among the commonest of birds, it is a little 

 curious that erroneous ideas are general about some 

 of their commonest actions. People who see them 

 every day will be found ready to swear that they 

 are expert divers. Yet they never get under the 

 surface of the water. When hunting they fly 

 slowly over it, the head moving from side to side ; 



