GULLS IN LONDON 239 



the middle. We took several snap-shots of the 

 Gulls while they were flying, and then retired to 

 the outer reeds, much to the satisfaction of our 

 feathered friends, all of which, about two hundred 

 in all, had been screaming their loudest all the time 

 we were near them. They then gradually quieted 

 down, while many returned to their nests, and I 

 was able to get a photograph of several of them 

 while sitting, with my tele-photo lens. 



To judge by the number of jack in the water 

 round about this broad, it must have been a happy 

 hunting-ground for those most voracious of all 

 fresh-water fish, and great numbers of the young 

 broods must have been destroyed by them. 



The conspicuous black, or rather dark brown, on 

 the head of this Gull disappears in winter, turning 

 to white, with the exception of a few feathers that 

 are tipped with black. During this time they 

 leave their inland breeding haunts and resort to 

 the sea-coast, although numbers will visit different 

 parts of the Thames and the London parks, prob- 

 ably being attracted by the amount and variety 

 of food supplied to them by crowds of people who 

 thus come in contact with them. These crowds 

 are always largest between one and two o'clock 

 p.m., the dinner-hour of the majority of middle- 

 class Londoners, which fact the Gulls seem to be 



