140 THE GULLS 



Two days afterwards I saw a pair near their nest advance side by 

 side, wings half spread, beaks deflected, heads thrown somewhat back, 

 but tail not fanned. At intervals they bowed till the tip of the bill 

 touched or almost touched the ground. They then quickly resumed 

 their normal attitudes. The spirit seemed suddenly to move them, 

 and as suddenly to depart from them. 



This display may, for all I know, be frequent in the early part of 

 the season (February to March), but during the period that I have 

 watched the species, namely from the beginning of April to the 

 middle of July, I have only seen it performed on the above occasions, 

 though I have been in or near the breeding-ground for days and 

 hours at a time. 1 The same applies to the cosseting or preening 

 of one bird by another, but throughout the breeding season from 

 April to June, and no doubt to some extent in July, the species 

 is in the habit of performing certain actions which are partly 

 expressive of love or affection, and partly of other emotions. These 

 may properly be classed under the head of the language of gesture. 

 Each has a meaning or meanings as intelligible to me, indeed, often 

 more intelligible than that intended to be conveyed by the sounds 

 the birds utter. There are at least three of these gestures clearly 

 distinguishable, but any two may follow so closely one upon the other 

 as to be continuous. 



The first is as follows. The bird, standing, or moving forward 

 towards another bird, suddenly lowers and retracts the neck, so that 

 it, and sometimes also the beak, point forward. Usually, how- 

 ever, the head and beak are tilted upwards, sometimes almost 

 straight upwards. The wings are kept closed, or partly opened 

 and hanging, or spread so as to form with the back a broad flat 

 expanse. The whole attitude of the bird, in particular the upward 

 tilt of the beak, gives it an air of aggressive truculence calculated to 

 be highly offensive to the party approached. When the attitude is 



1 The dates of my visits to colonies of blackheads are as follows -.Scoulton, April 6-13, 1911 ; 

 Ravenglaaa, May 16-21, 1910, May 19-24, 1909; Dungeneas, June 5-12, 1908; Rarenglass, June 

 14-17, 1909 ; Walney, June 16-July 13, 1905 ; Dungeneas, July 7-14, 1907. 



