SAILORS' TRICKS ON THE GULL. 327 



not able to swallow outright, they dash at him and hunt him 

 through the air until the victim is obliged to drop what- 

 ever he has secured, and the ravenous burgomaster appro- 

 priates and swallows it himself. I have watched many of 

 these nefarious transactions, and the result is always the 

 same: the small gull turns, and twists, and doubles, and 

 dodges, screaming all the time so pitifully that one would 

 think he expected to lose his life instead of his dinner, but 

 at last he is compelled to give up possession, and the burgo- 

 master then ceases to molest him." 



Sailors are very fond of playing off a joke upon the gulls, 

 which are always hovering about ships. They take three 

 or four pieces of sail-twine about six feet in length; these 

 are tied together in the middle, and to the end of each a 

 small piece of blubber or fat is attached tightly, and then 

 thrown into the sea. A gull comes and swallows one piece, 

 another then sees there is plenty to spare, and swallows the 

 next ; perhaps a third gull takes possession of another ; but 

 as they are all attached by the sail-yarns, whenever they try 

 to fly away one or the other is compelled to disgorge his 

 share ; and this is continued, to the tantalizing suspense of 

 the poor gulls, and the great fun of the sailors. This may 

 be a confirmation of the old popular term applied to persons 

 easily duped, but in most cases the gull shows great wari- 

 ness and cleverness, especially in escaping from its insatiable 

 enemy the heron. 



The glaucous gull is an occasional visitor to English 

 shores from its habitat in Northern Europe. One was shot 

 at Galway during the " famine" year in Jreland, 1846. A 

 soup kitchen had been established within some distance of 

 the coast, and each day the stately-looking fellow left its 

 maritime domain, and attracted by the smell, sailed about 

 the vicinity of the soup. Many of the poor famished peas- 

 ants regarded it Avith an unfavorable eye, not being accus- 

 tomed to observe a white bird of such dimensions floating in 



