GULLS AND GULLIBILITY. 207 



14 Sea-maw, sea-maw, go sink in the sand ; 

 There's never good weather when ye' re on the land." 



We refer to it because it is the subject of a discussion 

 in Sir Humphrey Davy's i Salmonia/ the disputants 

 being Poietes, a poet, and Ornithes, a sportsman : 



" Poiet. I have often seen sea-gulls assemble on the 

 land, and have almost always observed that very stormy 

 and rainy weather was approaching. I conclude that 

 these animals, sensible of a current of air approaching 

 from the ocean, retire to the land to shelter themselves 

 from the storm. 



" Orn. No such thing ; the storm is their element. 

 I believe that the reason of this migration of sea-gulls 

 to the land is their security of finding food ; and they 

 may be observed at this time feeding greedily on earth- 

 worms and larvae, driven out of the ground by severe 

 floods ; and the fish on which they prey in fine weather 

 in the sea, leave the surface and go deeper in storms." 



We are not disposed to ascribe the landward move- 

 ments of gulls to premonitory instinct, and rather con- 

 ceive that, having had a foretaste of the storm, they 

 have fled from its violence to places where they know 

 that they will find shelter and food. Their movements 

 thus indicate commotion at sea as already begun, and 

 consequently furnish no premonition of the weather to 

 be expected inland. Moreover, it is to be remembered 

 that their visits inland are at a certain season for the 

 purpose of rearing their young. One of their chosen 

 haunts for nidification is among the chain of lakes be- 

 twixt Dunkeld and Blairgowrie. This gives rise to a 

 singular traffic. Cart-loads of their eggs, boiled hard, 

 are sold all over Strathmore, and are very palatable. 



In a different part of the country in the vicinity of 

 Kirkcudbright we were repeatedly witnesses of what 

 seemed to give us quite an original idea as to the 

 origin of the word gullibility. Living at a gentleman's 

 seat, our attention was directed to a pair of sea-gulls, 

 which, we were informed, were in the habit of regularly 



