164 THE GULLS 



has swallowed its find will even be pursued by its fellows, and com- 

 pelled to disgorge. 1 We have, indeed, here among the Gulls them- 

 selves the beginnings of the parasitic habit so highly developed in the 

 closely related Skuas. 



Live fish forms a comparatively small part of the food of Gulls, 

 except when they happen to be following shoals. Dead fish they get 

 occasionally either stranded on the beach, or thrown away by fisher- 

 men, and may be seen eating the same in company with other species, 

 notably of the Crow Family, a temporary association by no means 

 favourable to friendly relations. The Crows appear generally to get 

 the worst of the encounters that take place. Saxby once saw a 

 herring-gull drive off a raven, which had ventured to approach and 

 pick up one of some sillacks thrown from a cottage door, and not 

 only was the intruder compelled to drop its booty, but it was chased 

 for nearly a mile, all the time crying out "as though it were being 

 murdered." 2 



A large part of the food found by Gulls on the sea, especially in 

 harbours and estuaries, consists of floating matter of all kinds, a 

 biscuit thrown over the stern of a steamer, a lump of grease, or a dead 

 dog. They carry their scavenging operations inland, and may often 

 be seen in hundreds on and over the refuse-heaps near large towns. 

 I was able, at some miles distance, to locate through a field-glass the 

 position of the refuse-heaps near North Berwick by the living canopy of 

 gulls formed above them when the birds were disturbed by the 

 workmen in charge. Here again the Gulls come into conflict with the 

 Crows, and, in the attempts made by one to snatch food from the other, 

 it has been observed that the former have the advantage owing to their 

 ability to swallow at one gulp a morsel that a rook or hooded-crow 

 finds it necessary to divide, the delay giving the nearest gull ample 

 time to make a snatch. 3 



Inland visits for food other than refuse are frequent, especially in 



1 E. Selous, Bird Watching, p. 11& * Birds of Shetland, p. 340. 



s Journal fur Omithologie, 1900, 347 (Wustnei). 



