18 STUDIES OF NATURE 



deliberate, and consummately adapted to its 

 object. With what ease they float and rise, 

 fall and turn, uttering all the while their plain- 

 tive and half-human cry ! Some of their gyr- 

 ations are evidently intended for exercise or 

 for simple pleasure ; but their main purpose 

 is, of course, to pick up such stray scraps of food 

 as are found lying about the rocks. The fisher- 

 men sit here in the afternoons, baiting their 

 long night-lines, and leave odds and ends behind 

 them. Then there are eels, and dog-fish, and 

 other rejected creatures thrown back into the 

 water, which the gulls appropriate ; and some- 

 times their quick eyes detect the young ' saith ' 

 swimming in the shallow water over the grey 

 slabs, and, sweeping down swiftly, they snatch 

 them out with great dexterity. They are very 

 tame ; and frequently we see one of them sitting 

 like a duck close to the shore for a long time. 

 Probably they are shrewd enough to know that 

 nobody on the Island carries a gun except the 



