COMMON GULL. 195 



Dr. Thackeray, Provost of King's College, Cam- 

 bridge, sends me in a letter the following interesting 

 particulars relating to an individual of the common 

 gull, which he has had for many years alive in his 

 garden, and which is remarkable for having brought 

 up a young duck during the summer, of 1844. With 

 this bird the gull seems to have contracted a close 

 intimacy : 



" MY DEAR SIR, 



" You are aware that the gull in my garden has 

 for several years laid eggs. She had often shewn a 

 disposition to sit, to which I paid little attention, 

 knowing that her eggs must necessarily be unpro- 

 ductive. Last year, at the suggestion of Mr. Yar- 

 rell, I placed three duck's eggs in her nest. As it 

 was found that she could not conveniently cover 

 these, one was removed ; and she sat constantly on 

 the remaining two till the bill of a duckling appeared 

 from one of them. This she killed in her awkward 

 attempts to extract it, from which I infer that she 

 probably had never bred in a wild state. The next 

 day a young duck was produced, which soon found 

 its way to a fountain distant about twenty yards 

 from the nest. Before she sat, she had been in the 

 habit of roosting on a stone step : on the second or 

 third night after the young duck was hatched, she 

 contrived, by some means or other, to place the 

 duckling by her side on this step. I conceive that 

 this was effected with difficulty; for on the night 

 above referred to, I heard her call, which is different 

 from. her common note, after ten o'clock, and saw 



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