A Feathered Criminal 



familiar with this addition to the normal features of her hill- 

 side. The following morning my companion entered the 

 hiding-tent and, the gull returning with little hesitation, 

 several pictures were secured of her. Next day the nest was 

 again visited, and I entered the hide about ten o'clock. 



By now — July 8 — one of the chicks had hatched out and 

 was cheeping vigorously, while its companion, as yet im- 

 prisoned in the ^gg, was tapping at the latter energetically 

 with its bill and cheeping feebly. The difference in the age 

 of the two chicks seemed to show that the gull had commenced 

 to brood immediately after laying the first ^gg. 



The hiding-tent, placed as it was on a sloping hillside, 

 was extremely uncomfortable to sit in. In the front of the 

 tent a small hole was cut in the canvas for the lens of the 

 camera, and two others, one above and one below, to 

 serve as peep-holes. These peep-holes were large enough 

 to peer through with one eye only, and as there was usually 

 a strong draught of air blowing through them into the sun- 

 heated interior of the tent, prolonged watching was by no 

 means pleasant. For about five minutes after my companion 

 had left the hide I could hear the gulls calling as they circled 

 overhead. Gradually they quieted down, and the owner of the 

 nest beside the tent flew low, backwards and forwards, over 

 the hide for perhaps five minutes, spying out the land. Then, 

 through one of the peep-holes, I could see her walking 

 leisurely down the grassy ledge towards her nest, and after 

 several pauses she came forward, settling down sedately on 

 to her first-born and the chipping ^gg. The chick seemed 

 to be a source of interest to her, for she periodically stood up 

 to gaze upon it, subsequently brooding it once more after 

 a careful scrutiny. But when a false alarm excited the colony 

 periodically, the mother bird, on flying off her nest, treated 

 her chick with scant consideration, and as she "kicked off" 

 from her nest in order to launch herself into the air, usually 

 sent her young one flying with a blow from her powerful 

 foot. A Spartan upbringing for one so young I 

 H 97 



