200 LABID-33. 



the air, while all the time the hindmost birds are flying over the flock 

 to alight in the front ranks, so that the whole body is steadily advancing, 

 devouring the grasshoppers as it proceeds. When they first arrive they 

 seem ravenously hungry, and after gorging themselves they fly to the 

 water, where after drinking they cast up their food and then go back to 

 renew the battle. 



In spring these Gulls come about the farms to follow the plough, filling 

 the new-made furrows from end to end, hovering in a cloud over the 

 ploughman's head and following at his heels, a screaming, fighting crowd. 

 When feeding they invariably keep up a great noise. Wilson's expres- 

 sion in describing a northern species, that its cry " is like the excessive 

 laugh of a negro/' is also descriptive of the language of our bird. Its 

 peculiar cry is lengthened at will and inflected a thousand ways, and 

 interspersed with numerous short notes like excited exclamations. 

 After feeding they always fly to the nearest water to drink and bathe 

 their feathers, after which they retire to some open spot in the neigh- 

 bourhood where there is a carpet of short grass. They invariably sit 

 close together with their bills toward the wind, and the observer will 

 watch the flock in vain to see one bird out of this beautiful order. 

 They do not stand up to fly, but rise directly from a sitting posture. 

 Usually the wings are flapped twice or thrice before the body is raised 

 from the ground. 



In some seasons in August and September, after a period of warm 

 wet weather, the larvse of the large horned beetle rise to the surface, 

 throwing up little mounds of earth as moles do ; often they are so 

 numerous as to give the plains, where the grass has been very closely 

 cropped, the appearance of being covered with mud. These insects 

 afford a rich harvest to the Spur-winged Lapwing (Vanellus cayennensis], 

 which in such seasons of plenty are to be seen all day diligently running 

 about, probing and dislodging them from beneath the fresh hillocks. 

 The Gulls, unprovided with a probing beak, avail themselves of their 

 superior cunning and violence to rob the Lapwings ; and I have often 

 watched their proceedings for hours with the greatest interest. Hun- 

 dreds of Lapwings are perhaps visible running busily about on all sides; 

 near each one a Gull is quietly stationed, watching the movements of 

 its intended dupe with the closest attention. The instant a great snow- 

 white grub is extracted the Gull makes a rush to seize it, the Lapwing 

 flies, and a violent chase ensues. After a hundred vain doublings the 

 Plover drops the prize, and slopes toward the earth with a disappointed 

 cry ; the pursuer checks his flight, hovers a moment watching the grub 

 fall, then drops down upon it, gobbles it up, and hastens after the Lap- 

 wing to resume his watch. 



