BIRD NOTES 143 



without moving away, as if dancing a hornpipe. 

 Evidently, from the frequent pauses made by each 

 bird to pick up something, the unusual disturb- 

 ance of the mud caused sundry crustaceans and 

 worms to come in terror to the surface the very 

 result intended by the birds. I have seen the same 

 manoeuvre executed several times since. A few 

 evenings prior to this I was sitting in the dusk at 

 the stern of my houseboat when I noticed a Gull 

 behaving in a very strange way, and after some careful 

 glimpses at him through my telescope I found 

 he had fast in his gullet a flounder much too 

 large to be comfortably swallowed. The poor thing 

 described a number of circles, and gradually came 

 my way. I had prepared to slip out on to the 

 mud, should he come near enough, in order to 

 help him in some way or other; but for all his 

 caperings he became distrustful of my presence, 

 and vanished, still curveting, into the gathering 

 gloom. In all probability it was the last flounder 

 he ever tackled. 



In August 1899 a large Grey Gull captured a 

 flounder he was utterly incapable of swallowing. A 

 companion bullied him, chasing him up and down 

 and around in the air for nearly a mile, the rightful 



