40 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



But this is just an incident in gull-life, and 

 herring-gulls generally get their own food for 

 themselves. When one gets out into the 

 wilds, though, one finds the professional 

 pirate-gull at work, a bird who spends most 

 of his time in making the other gulls give up 

 what they catch, and does not mind attacking 

 one which is bigger than himself. This is the 

 skua, a gull which is only about as big as the 

 small black-headed gull, but flies much faster ; 

 you can recognize him by his dark colour, for 

 he is sooty-brown instead of grey-and-white 

 or speckled, and by his tail being pointed 

 instead of square at the tip. He seems to 

 have a very good idea of when a gull is " full 

 inside," for he does not waste his time in 

 chasing one that has nothing to give up ; no 

 doubt he can tell by the style of flight whether 

 his victim has had dinner or not. So he goes 

 straight at the bird he selects, and hunts him 

 as hard as he possibly can ; the poor gull does 

 his best to get away, but his pursuer flies so 

 much faster, and seems so fierce, that he loses 

 heart altogether, and throws up whatever he 

 has swallowed lately ; this the pirate snaps 

 up, and goes gaily off to find some one else to 



