THE GULL. 



213 



the waves that swell like mountains are 

 scarcely seen to curl on the surface, and the 

 roar of an ocean a thousand leagues broad 

 appears softer than the murmur of a brook ! 

 it is in these formidable mansions that myriads 

 of sea-fowls are for ever seen sporting, flying 

 in security down the depth, half a mile be- 

 neath the feet of the spectator. The crow 

 and the chough avoid those frightful preci- 

 pices ; they choose smaller heights, where 

 they are less exposed to the tempest ; it is the 

 cormorant, the gannet, the tarrock, and the 

 tern, that venture to these dreadful retreats, 

 and claim an undisturbed possession. To the 

 spectator from above, those birds, though 

 some of them are above the size of an eagle, 

 seem scarcely as large as a swallow; and 

 their loudest screaming is scarcely percep- 

 tible. 



But the generality of our shores are not so 

 formidable. Though they may rise two 

 hundred fathoms above the surface, yet it 

 often happens that the water forsakes the 

 shores at the departure of the tide, and leaves 

 a noble and delightful walk for curiosity on 

 the beach. Not to mention the variety of 

 shells with which the sand is strewed, the 

 lofty rocks that hang over the spectator's head, 

 and that seem but just kept from falling, pro- 

 duce in him no unpleasing gloom. If to this 

 be added the fluttering, the screaming, and 

 the pursuits of myriads of water-birds, all 

 either intent on the duties of incubation, or 

 roused at the presence of a stranger, nothing 

 can compose a scene of more peculiar solem- 

 nity. To walk along the shore when the tide 

 is departed, or to sit in the hollow of a rock 

 when it is come in, attentive to the various 

 sounds that gather on every side, above and 

 below, may raise the mind to its highest and 

 noblest exertions. The solemn roar of the 

 waves swelling into and subsiding from the 

 vast caverns beneath, the piercing note of the 

 gull, the frequent chatter of the guillemot, the 

 loud note of the hawk, the scream of the he- 

 ron, and the hoarse deep periodical croaking 

 of the cormorant, all unite to furnish out the 

 grandeur of the scene, and turn the mind to 

 HIM who is the essence of all sublimity. 



Yet it often happens that the contemplation 

 of a seashore produces ideas of an humbler 

 kind, yet still not unpleasing. The various 

 arts of these birds to seize their prey, and 

 sometimes to elude their pursuers, their so- 

 ciety among each other, and their tenderness 

 and care of their young, produce gentler sen- 

 sations. It is ridiculous also now and then to 

 see their various ways of imposing upon each 

 other. It is common enough, for instance, 

 with the arctic gull, to pursue the lesser gulls 

 so long, that they drop their excrements 

 through fear, which the hungry hunter quick 



ly gobbles up before it ever reaches the water. 

 In breeding too they have frequent contests ; 

 one bird who has no nest of her own, attempts 

 to dispossess another, and puts herself in the 

 place. This often happens among all the 

 gull-kind: and I have seen the poor bird, 

 thus displaced by her more powerful invader, 

 sit near the nest in pensive discontent, while 

 the other seemed quite comfortable in her new 

 habitation. Yet this place of pre-eminence is 

 not easily obtained ; for the instant the inva- 

 der goes to snatch a momentary sustenance, 

 the other enters upon her own, and always 

 ventures another battle before she relinquishes 

 the justness of her claim. The contemplation 

 of a cliff thus covered with hatching birds, af- 

 fords a very agreeable entertainment ; and as 

 they sit upon the ledges of the rocks, one 

 above another, with their white breasts for- 

 ward, the whole group has not unaptly been 

 compared to an apothecary's shop. 



These birds, like all others of the rapa- 

 cious kind, lay but few eggs ; and hence, in 

 many places, their number is daily seen to di- 

 minish. The lessening of so many rapacious 

 birds may, at first sight, appear a benefit to 

 mankind ; but when we consider how many 

 of the natives of our islands are sustained by 

 their flesh, either fresh or salted, we shall find 

 no satisfaction in thinking that these poor peo- 

 ple may in time lose their chief support. The 

 gull, in general, as was said, builds on the 

 ledges of rocks, and lays from one egg to 

 three, in a nest formed of long grass and sea- 

 weed. Most of the kind are fishy tasted, with 

 black stringy flesh ; yet the young ones are 

 better food : and of these, with several other 

 birds of the penguin kind, the poor inhabi- 

 tants of our northern islands make their 

 wretched banquets. They have been long 

 used to no other food ; and even salted gull 

 can be relished by those who know no better. 

 Almost all delicacy is a relative thing ; and 

 the man who repines at the luxuries of a well- 

 served table, starves not for want, but from 

 comparison. The luxuries of the poor are in, 

 deed coarse to us, yet still they are luxuries 

 to those ignorant of better ; and it is probable 

 enough that a Kilda or a Feroe man may be 

 found to exist, outdoing Apicius himself in 

 consulting the pleasures of the table. In- 

 deed, if it be true that such meat as is the 

 most dangerously earned is the sweetest, no 

 men can dine so luxuriously as these, as none 

 venture so hardily in the pursuit of a dinner. 

 In Jacobson's History of the Feroe islands, 

 we have an account of the method in which 

 those birds are taken ; and I will deliver it in 

 his own simple manner. 



" It cannot be expressed with what pains 

 and danger they take these birds in those high 

 steep dills, whereof many are two hundred 



