216 WILD BIRDS 



with or against the wind, over the estuary, the great 

 black-backed gull on a bright February day is a grand 

 figure. There is no mistaking the adult bird for 

 any other gull ! the difference between him and the 

 lesser black-backed gull, which I watched in the 

 nesting time over the terrible cliffs of Trevalga, is 

 too marked for confusion. 



The great black-backed gull at the estuary appears 

 to be in full dress. Like the herring gulls, he looks 

 snow-white at a little distance, save for the back and 

 the upper sides of the wings, which are jet in the sun. 

 These wings uphold the heavy bird and work with 

 eagle ease. I have not seen the great black-backed 

 gull soar like the herring gulls in a stormy air, nor 

 have I seen in his flight those miles of mazy motion 

 which make the saddleback so glorious to watch, 

 but doubtless he can ride the storm as easily as any 

 of them. 



His action in the air is utterly unlike the action 

 of the swans, which are constantly in the air moving, 

 nearly always in pairs, from one part of the estuary 

 to another. The swan style is a straight line of 

 regular and monotonous flight. The swan attacks the 

 air by full strokes or flaps of the wings, each stroke 

 like another, and each appearing to be what I am 

 sure it is not a simple, straight, up-and-down 

 stroke. At hundreds of yards' distance, when the 

 air is still, one can hear the creaking or girding of 

 the swan's strong, regular strokes : whereas one must 

 be quite near to catch the least sound from the great 

 black-backed gull. 



