THE SEAGULL 
SO glorious is the flight of the seagull that 
it tempts us to fling aside the dry-as-dust 
theories of mechanism of flexed wings, co- 
efficient of air resistance, and all the 
abracadabra of the mathematical biologist, 
and just to give thanks for a sight so 
inspiring as that of gulls ringing high in the 
eye of the wind over hissing combers that 
break on sloping beaches or around jagged 
rocks. These birds are one with the sea, know- 
ing no fear of that protean monster which, 
since earth's beginning, has always, with its 
unfathomable mystery, its insatiable cruelty, 
its tremendous strength, been a source of 
terror to the land animals that dwell in sight 
of it. Yet the gulls sit on the curling rollers 
as much at their ease as swimmers in a pond, 
and give an impression of unconscious cour- 
age very remarkable in creatures that seem 
so frail. Hunger may drive them inland, or 
instincts equally irresistible at the breeding 
season, but never the worst gale that lashes 
the sea to fury, for they dread it in its hour 
91 
