54 THE AUKS 



King writes me that the lesser blackbacked-gulls " watch at the mouth 

 of the nesting-hole, and, as the puffin comes out, lay hold of it by the 

 back of the neck, shake it like a terrier shakes a rat, and when they 

 have killed it, disembowel it and leave the empty carcase. A year or 

 two ago," he continues, " I collected within a radius of about fifty or 

 sixty feet a heap of about thirty of these victims." Herring-gulls and 

 lesser blackbacks have been seen to push their heads down the holes 

 and pull out the young, and the great blackbacked-gull will boldly 

 seize an adult puffin from among those in the midst of which it 

 happens to be standing. Of this more will be said in the chapter on 

 these Gulls. 



