CHAPTER VII 

 BREYDON GULLS AND BREYDON CRABS 



IF I were asked to state what I considered to be the 

 characteristic bird of Breydon, I should unhesitatingly 

 say the gull. At no season of the year is the place 

 absolutely free from representative members of this genus. 

 It is to them a refuge in time of storm and stress. They 

 repair to it on finer days to rest and sleep off the effects of 

 too liberal a meal on the herring-grounds. In times of scarcity 

 there is seldom a period of famine here, save when the waters 

 are ice-bound ; and here they come to gossip, to bathe, and 

 to plan out new enterprises for the morrow. The various 

 gulls that haunt this tidal basin follow no hard and fast rules 

 of conduct and procedure, their movements being chiefly 

 governed by the ebbing and flowing of the tides ; and when 

 extra high tides cover the highest " lumps" they are sometimes 

 much inconvenienced. Usually, say, in the summer months, 

 you will find them the black -backed gulls and their 

 juniors, the " greys," and the common and herring gulls that 

 frequently consort with them (the latter mostly in immature 

 stages) somnolent and idle at daybreak, and remaining, 

 performing their ablutions and their toilet, until the sun has 

 peered above the housetops. Then some will prowl around 

 among the prostrate "grass" (if the tide be low) in search of 

 shore-crabs and stranded fish; and will hunt more assiduously 

 for the crabs that begin to scamper about as the rising tide 

 lifts the wrack. The smaller gulls will repair to the channel 

 and the drains. Sometimes they are noisy; at other times, 

 more especially if there be a stirring wind, they fish silently. 

 Later, as early autumn comes on, the black-headed species 

 begins to muster up, the adults with their mouse-coloured 

 hoods still perfect, the speckled-plumaged youngsters of the 

 year bearing them company. They are more often noisy 

 than quiet, and their laughing cries resound all over the flats. 



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