The Sea-Gull. 201 



is proved by the numbers of people that have 

 crowded the bridges and embankments to watch 

 their movements. To a considerable proportion of 

 them, no doubt, the marvellous flight and power of 

 wing of the gull came as an absolute revelation. 

 To those intimately acquainted with the bird and 

 its ways, the advent of so many on the higher 

 reaches of the river was not only a surprise, but a 

 source of enjoyment, which no doubt induced them 

 to form part of the crowds engaged in watching 

 the birds. There is, perhaps, some slight cause 

 for wonder, when we consider the habit so 

 common to gulls of following the tide in rivers, 

 that these birds are not more often seen in London 

 between bridges, as food in the tideway cannot 

 be lacking to them. The reasons of their scarce- 

 ness, however, are no doubt, firstly, the crowded 

 state of the river itself, to say nothing of the 

 densely populated condition of its banks, and, 

 secondly, the great distance from the sands and 

 saltings of the estuary to which the birds always 

 retire for the night. In addition, food is plentiful 

 in the lower reaches ; and therefore, except in the 

 case of such exceptional weather as we have lately 

 experienced, the gulls find no occasion to venture 

 into the narrow and crowded waterway of the 

 river as it flows through London. 



When we say that food is plentiful in the lower 

 reaches of the river, we must not be understood to 

 speak of food to be found in the river itself, or 

 even on its banks, as the sea-gull in autumn, 



