326 RAPACITY OF THE LARGE G ULLS. 



find two or three holes, which communicate with the interior ; 

 through these, when the bird is alive, pass tubes, which are 

 connected with the lungs; so that, when the bird starts for 

 flight, he fills his wings and other bones with air, causing 

 them to act something like a balloon on each side of him. 

 This explains on© of the chief reasons why man will never be 

 able to fly : his arm-bones are filled Avith marrow, which he 

 cannot by any means get rid of, should he be ever so anxious 

 to fly like a bird." 



Some of the larger gulls are very expert in breaking the 

 shells of the mullusks on which they feed, by taking them 

 up to a sufiicient height in the air, and dropping them on a 

 rock. Audubon, our famous naturalist, mentions an instance 

 in which the gull, finding the shell not broken by the fall, 

 carried it up a second and a third time, and dropped it from 

 a loftier height, by which its purpose was effected. Gulls 

 are able to endure hunger for a long time. An instance is 

 related of one being kept without food for nine days, and 

 yet retained a considerable degree of strength. When their 

 prey is before them, they dart at it with such violence that 

 they will swallow both bait and hook, and split themselves 

 on the point placed by the fisherman under the fish which 

 he presents to them. 



The selfishness and rapacity exhibited by some larger 

 members of the gull family has often been observed ; the 

 Glaucous is a notable instance, and is called by the Dutch 

 sailors the "Burgomaster," from the tyranny which in virtue 

 of its size and strength it exerts over most of the smaller 

 birds of the Northern seas, compelling them to relinquish 

 the fish they have taken; bad qualities, shared in a like 

 degree by the Parasiticus Gull. Mr. Lament describes these 

 marine bashaws very amusinu'ly: 



*' None of these birds ever seemed to take the trouble of 

 picking up anything for themselves, but as soon as they 

 observe any other gull in possession of a morsel which he is 



