COMMON, HERRING, AND BLACKBACKED-GULLS 163 



in the Scilly Isles, they do this habitually, whether alarmed by the 

 approach of intruders or not. 1 They are found hiding among the 

 stones, in the grass, or under any suitable cover. Intruders are 

 attacked by the parent birds after the manner adopted by the black- 

 headed-gulls. They swoop down one after the other, and when 

 near the enemy utter a loud and discordant scream. But they do 

 not appear to be, as a rule, so persistent in their efforts as the 

 smaller species. 



Herring and common-gulls have been observed to feed their 

 young by regurgitation, in the same way as the blackhead. 2 It is 

 asserted that the common-gull will swallow again a morsel, such as a 

 mouse or mole, which proves too large for the young. If after this 

 second process of digestion it is still too large, then once more it is 

 swallowed, and in due course regurgitated. 3 In the case of a bird 

 observed by Mr. Selous, the food, a small fish apparently, was dis- 

 gorged on to the ground, and pushed with the beak towards the chick, 

 who thereupon swallowed it. Dr. R Heatherley has seen the greater 

 blackbacked regurgitate food into the beak of its young. 4 I can 

 find no specific record of how the lesser blackbacked performs the 

 act of feeding its offspring, but have no doubt whatever that it 

 resembles its congeners. A list of the kinds of food usually given 

 to the young will be found in the " Classified Notes." 



The food of the parents is exceedingly varied, more so even than 

 that of the Crow tribe, for it not only includes everything eaten by the 

 latter, but also much in addition drawn from the open sea. All four 

 species may be seen in large numbers following shoals of surface- 

 swimming fish. They do not plunge into the water after the manner 

 of Terns, but descend in a curve, and immerse, as a rule, only the head 

 and beak. They are not above snatching fish from the nets and from 

 one another. According to Mr. E. Selous' observations, a bird which 



1 But according to C. Rubow (op. cit), the chicks of the common-gull find their way back to 

 the nest. This is also undoubtedly the case with the blackheaded-gull (see p. 146). 



Naumann, Vogel Mitteleuropas, xi. 252 ; E. Selous, Bird Watching, p. 119 ; C. J. King, 

 in litt. ; and for the common-gull, Rubow, Life of the Common-gull (pages unnumbered). 



3 Rubow, op. tit. 4 In litt. 



