THE GULL FAMILY 313 



the adult birds were not shot at, nor any other means 

 adopted for their capture or death, was that by their 

 movements they told those that got their living 

 from salt water what they might expect. No matter 

 how fine the weather, or how fair the surroundings 

 looked, if the Cob was seen on any parts of the 

 flats above or below, those that saw him stand there, 

 with one leg tucked up, and his head drawn in on 

 his shoulders, told all within hail, as they made their 

 passage, what they had seen. Thirty or forty miles 

 is as nothing for the pinions of these strong birds. 

 The tame Cobs, too, those that survived the chas- 

 tisement given to them for using their bills on 

 people without just cause, told the same tale in a 

 different way ; when foul weather was coming, they 

 barked and cackled ; not only that, they bit all that 

 came near them a little more sharply than usual. 

 One or two of the craft that I knew were what were 

 called North Sea boats, built on lugger lines. If 

 old Cobs had been seen in the position mentioned 

 on any portion of the marsh flats, on either shore, 

 the captains and owners of those vessels, as well as 

 the crews, would be seen in a state of restless 

 activity getting ready to make the open sea, if it 

 blew a hurricane outside. Fully fitted with running 

 gear, spare anchors, and spars these were, and not a 

 man of course in the crews but what knew his place, 

 and what to do in it. 



This was a cause for wonder to me, and it had to 

 stop at that, for questions I dared not ask when I 

 was young. I had been told that it was a fault that 



