Gulls in the Thames. 267 



be picked up maimed and contused on the beach below, 

 or in the sea if the tide were high. 



In the winter, when the weather is very severe, 

 flocks of these sea-birds will come up the rivers in 

 search of food. Very beautiful it is to see them pois- 

 ing themselves over the water of the river, and then 

 perhaps descending and diving. The Thames, during 

 the severe weather in January 1893, was invaded by 

 flocks of these birds, which sailed about and showed 

 so many exquisite manoeuvres that not a few stood to 

 watch and to admire them. There were, alas! a few, 

 too, who were fain, with the perverted instinct of the 

 sportsman, merely to maim or kill them. A well- 

 known writer on natural history subjects gave an 

 account of his observations in one of the illustrated 

 weeklies. He told how these beautiful birds hung 

 suspended over those who held out food, and de- 

 scended almost to obtain it from the hand, and then 

 when it was dropped, seized it in mid-air with amazing 

 quickness and precision. 



But not only are the sea-birds an element of beauty 

 and attraction about our coasts, they have their uses 

 too. They take their tribute of the sea, but they do 

 their service for man also. They are the great sca- 

 vengers of the shore, of the pools, bays, and eddies, 

 which but for them would often not be so pleasant. 

 "Any one," says Mr. H. D. Rawnsley in his "Plea 

 for the Birds," "who has watched them at work after 

 the herring boats have come in at Whitby, or at low 

 tide has seen what public service they do by the 

 Bristol quays, will realise that the ' ocean, at her task 

 of pure ablution ' round our English shores, has in the 

 sea-gulls [and other sea-birds] a very competent and 

 assiduous band of helpers." 



