680 



GULL. 



(their wings having 1 lost all power) brings them down 

 to the surface of the water. This often happens to 

 the gulls, because, in those seasons when they are 

 most discursive, that is, when they associate to visit 

 their breeding-places in the spring, and when they 

 take their departure from them in the autumn, the 

 winds are most inconstant. 



The birds are no doubt well protected, by the 

 nature of their plumage, when the wind deprives 

 them of the use of their wings, and brings them in 

 contact with the water ; and though the water is in 

 agitation, and the waves are swinging in mountains, 

 or yeasting high in broken water, there is still a safety 

 for the sea-birds on the surge which those who have not 

 tudied the matter are probably not aware of. It is 

 true that the gulls, and other surface-birds which do 

 not dive, and thus penetrate the curling crests of the 

 waves, have not so much safety as the divers ; but 

 still there is one part of the wave upon which the 

 Btorm-beaten bird can find shelter, and generally also 

 food. This is a very curious circumstance in the 

 agitation of the sea, and it holds even at great 

 distances from the shore. Waves are merely vibra- 

 tions of the water, and in the slope of each wave, 

 somewhere about the middle of its height, or in a 

 line, if the wave is linear, which does not partake in 

 the violent motion with which the crest and the hol- 

 low alternately change places. The wave turns 

 upon this point or line, just as a vibrating balance 

 turns on its axis, or as a pendulum swings on its 

 point of suspension. This centre of motion in the 

 vibrating wave is comparatively at rest ; and as it is 

 approached either from the ridge or the hollow and 

 it is of little consequence which, for these alternate 

 with each other there is comparatively little motion 

 of the water. It is true that, in violent gales, more 

 especially when they blow in gusts, waves are never 

 simple ; and thus the centre of one wave, which, if there 

 were but that one, would be a point of comparative 

 rest, is itself in motion upon another wave. Notwith- 

 standing those circumstances, there is a most conve- 

 nient resting-place for the sea-bird upon the troubled 

 waters ; so that it actually is in less danger, and 

 suffers less fatigue, than if the surface were waveless 

 under the same violence of the wind. Indeed, if we 

 ^yere to suppose a gull, which can ride in the storm 

 till it has recovered itself, to be placed on smooth ice, 

 und even half the violence of wind to beat upon it, 

 it would be swept away like a thistle-down, and de- 

 stroyed by the violence of the motion. But, upon 

 the point of motion in the wave, the turning point, as 

 it were, the bird rides secure, and in the alternations 

 it has the shelter of the lee, and when it is most ex- 

 posed to leeward, the wind only beats it against the 

 soft resistance of the water, without much tendency to 

 drive it from its place. 



This circumstance is well worth attending to by 

 every one who wishes thoroughly to understand the 

 economy of the long-winged sea-birds, and how well 

 they and the water and the storm are tempered to 

 each other. In almost every account which has been 

 written, even by eye-witnesses, of the conduct of 

 gulls and similar birds, when unable to keep the sky 

 in a gale, there is wonder expressed at the miraculous 

 escapes which the creatures make. As seen from the 

 shore, they appear at one moment to be whelmed in 

 the foaming crests of the waves, and plunged to utter 

 destruction ; but, no sooner does the vibrating wave 

 turn, than they are found upon the lee side, rocking 



in perfect security, and without a single feather being 

 wetted. Not only this, but that, every vibration of the 

 wave, and the consequent rest, or comparative rest, 

 of its centre of vibration, brings food to the birds*. 

 The little fishes, the small floating animals, and the 

 general waste of the sea, are all thrown to this point ; 

 and one who has the opportunity, and attends care- 

 fully to the action of gulls, may often perceive them 

 floating and feeding at their ease amid the turmoil of 

 very formidable waves. So beautifully does nature 

 adapt every creature to those circumstances in which 

 she places it. 



We have mentioned these circumstances, because 

 the gulls, from their size, their numbers, and their 

 general distribution, are the birds in which they may 

 be most easily verified by direct observation ; and, 

 having done ^his, which forms a most interesting sea- 

 study at those times when the sea is most worthy of 

 being studied, we shall proceed to make a few 

 remarks on the birds themselves. There are two 

 distinct genera to which the common English name 

 of gull is given. They have not much in common, 

 farther than that both are air-birds belonging to 

 the sea ; and, indeed, they stand in so opposite 

 relations to each other, that, while the one genus are 

 "gulls," the other genus are "gullers ;" that is, they 

 live by plundering the gulls properly so called. We 

 shall, however, save some room, and make our 

 account of them both more complete, by taking the two 

 genera consecutively in one article. The gulls, pro- 

 perly so called, form the genus Lams ; and the 

 others, the skuas, form the genus Lestris, that is, 

 robbers or plunderers. 



GULLS PROPERLY so CALLED (Lams). These are 

 often divided into two sections ; but, as the divisions 

 consist only of those which are larger, and those which 

 are of smaller size, they are of little consequence. 

 We shall, therefore, consider them as one only. The 

 generic characters are : the bill long, or middle-sized, 

 strong, hard, compressed, sharp-edged, hooked to- 

 wards the tip, lower mandible forming a salient 

 angle ; nostrils lateral, in the middle of the bill, 

 longitudinally cleft, straight, and pervious ; legs slen- 

 der, naked above the knee ; tarsus long, three fore 

 toes quite webbed, the hinder free, short, placed high 

 on the tarsus ; tail-feathers of equal length ; the wings 

 long. The birds of this genus are diffused over 

 almost every maritime country ; but in the northern 

 and southern extremities of the world they breed 

 most freely, and with least disturbance. Flocks of 

 them haunt the sea-shore in search of living or dead 

 fish ; and such is their voracity, that scarcely anything 

 comes amiss to them, for they will greedily feed on 

 putrid carcasses of whales, and the refuse of the tide, 

 and they will contend with one another for the most 

 loathsome fare. In the eager indulgence of their 

 ravenous propensities, they swallow the hook along 

 with the bait, and, like other predacious birds, they 

 throw up pellets of feathers, and other indigestible 

 matters ; nay, when harassed or alarmed, they with 

 great facility bring up their food, and, should they be 

 allowed to recover from their surprise, they will again 

 swallow what has been disgorged. Like ail voracious 

 animals, gulls are capable of enduring hunger for a 

 long time ; and though their favourite food is animal 

 substances, want will bring them to feed readily upon 

 vegetables. The old ones are generally unbroken in 

 the colours of their plumage, though different parts 

 of the body are of different colours. The young are 



