172 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



any Gulls, however, be near at hand, their sharp eyes 

 are sure to detect the first, ripple on the water, and 

 dashing down into the middle of the shoal, they drive 

 the fish to the bottom, and the men who may have 

 rowed hard for half a mile or more, and possibly paid 

 out a portion of their net, find their time and labour 

 thrown away, while the mischievous bird, with a de- 

 risive scream, sails off to repeat the performance at 

 the earliest opportunity. 



While watching the proceedings I have often been 

 requested to kill the Gulls, the men declaring that, 

 what with the Bird Act and the gun license, they were 

 unable to help themselves, being forced to stand 

 quietly by while the birds snatched the bread from their 

 mouths. 



The number of these Gulls that congregate in the 

 North Sea during the herring season in the autumn 

 is something enormous ; here, again, they cause great 

 loss to the fishermen. I have been assured by the 

 masters of some of the luggers that they have 

 frequently been deprived of a last of herrings, and 

 occasionally up to even four or five times that quantity, 

 by their depredations. 



As a last is over ten thousand fish, the number 

 might seem incredible to those who have never had 

 an opportunity of watching a large flock of these birds 

 gathered round a boat that is making a good haul. 



The number that they swallow is small compared 

 with those they bite and shake from the nets. I have 

 myself repeatedly observed as many as a thousand or 

 two of the larger species of Gulls attacking the nets of 

 a single boat ; at times, taking hold of the lines in their 

 beaks, they rise in the air, and attempt to shake out the 



