104 WESTERN SERIES OP READERS. 



beach in the morning, it always leaves its crumbs 

 on the shore, little shell-fish, and broken bits of 

 anything, including, now and then, fragments of 

 somebody's lunch, tossed the evening before into 

 the water. 



So, the early morning is your best time to 

 watch the gulls. Go and sit stock-still by a boat 

 or heap of sand, and you will not be noticed by 

 the birds. Along will come the gulls before it is 

 broad daylight, to pick up their breakfast. They 

 are beautiful and graceful on the white sands, 

 pecking as they go, now and then flying out into 

 the surf to snatch some tidbit that is being 

 washed away. 



The gulls are always spotlessly clean, their 

 lovely white heads glistening with the sea-water 

 bath. They like to perch on the little boats an- 

 chored in the bay. 



You toss them a piece of bread, and they watch 

 for another. Gulls have learned that nobody 

 harms them; and they are tame, expecting food 

 of strangers. They are said to be very fond of 

 cheese, and have been known to return day after 

 day to a place where they have received this 

 choice morsel. 



Where farms come close down to the sea, the 

 gulls are known to follow the plow, and to snatch 



