COMMON, HERRING, AND BLACKBACKED-GULLS 159 



The struggle lasted several minutes, and was resumed the instant the 

 beaks were unlocked. " At length there was a very violent struggle, 

 and the bird that seemed to have the advantage in its hold, by 

 advancing upon the other while never relaxing this, forced its head 

 backwards and at length right down upon its back, the bird so treated 

 being obviously much distressed. At last, with a violent effort, this 

 latter got its bill free, and the two, grappling together, and one, now, 

 seizing hold of the other's wing, rolled together down the steep face of 

 the rock. At the bottom they separated." Later the combat was 

 resumed, and ended in one bird flying off and alighting, to be pursued 

 by the other and attacked "with savage sweeps from side to side." 1 



The cause of these contests is not always clear. They appear to 

 be sometimes due to jealousy, sometimes to the presence of one bird 

 near the nest or nesting-place of another, and certainly at times to the 

 objection shown by one to the collection of nest material by another 

 in its immediate proximity. 2 



On turning to the sounds uttered by these species, one is met by 

 the usual hindrance to exact comparison arising from the absence of a 

 scientific phonetic notation. The same sounds are variously syllabled 

 by different observers, and it is at times only possible to recognise 

 their identity from circumstantial evidence. The same sounds are of 

 course sometimes heard differently by different ears, and in this case a 

 scientific notation would be of no avail. But there can be no doubt 

 that, if we had a separate symbol to represent each separate avian 

 sound, a system corresponding to that in use among modern language 

 scholars and teachers, not only would the work of comparison be 

 facilitated, but the study of the sounds would become far more careful 

 and exact. 



Notwithstanding the variety of syllabic characters used, it is 

 possible to detect a strong family likeness in the notes uttered by the 

 present species. Their alarm-notes have all been variously described 

 as hoarse cackles, laughs, and even barks. That of the common has 

 been figured as kak ! skak ! or yak ! and is the most distinctive. 



1 Bird Watching, p. 108. * Ibid., p. 104. 



