60 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



which included such species as Fulmar Petrels, 

 Skuas, various ducks, and the like. An immature 

 Gannet in the peculiarly spotted plumage of youth 

 was always a desideratum, the fishermen even on 

 occasion going to the expense of its preservation 

 as an ornament for their parlours. In several houses 

 to-day, old rusty muzzle-loaders are to be found 

 hanging up over the mantelpiece, valued heirlooms, 

 although useless and obsolete. 



Another amusement used to be the capturing of 

 live gulls by means of twirling astern a long tarry 

 cord. The birds tamely hovering around in the 

 wake of the vessel would become entangled by 

 their flight feathers in the string, when they were 

 dragged aboard. I once saw a number of Kittiwakes 

 taken in this manner. 



Up to the middle of the 'seventies the Storm- 

 Petrel was a well-recognised annual visitor to the 

 neighbourhood; up till that time the herrings, 

 which were then caught by the now obsolete three- 

 mast luggers, were landed on the beach in huge 

 unwieldy boats known as "ferriers," the luggers 

 remaining at anchor in the roadstead. Much offal 

 was thrown overboard, as it did not then pay to 

 bring it ashore to be sold as manure ; and not a few 



