276 WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



clamouring for food on the parapet of the Thames 

 Embankment, and a month or two later be 

 studying them in their dark brown hoods looking 

 for a breeding site, or actually engaged in 

 building operations on the reed-fringed shores of 

 some Norfolk mere, as shown in the series of 

 pictures on page 208. 



Seagulls sometimes show a wonderful amount 

 of cunning in obtaining food. A medical friend 

 of mine living near to Morecambe Bay told me, 

 a winter or two ago, that he could not make out 

 why a number of these birds visited his garden 

 regularly at the same time every morning. At 

 length he discovered that they came to dig up 

 bones and bits of fat hidden by a small pet dog 

 in different parts of the grounds. They waited 

 and watched the four-footed creature bury the 

 food, which was served out to him at a fixed 

 hour, and as soon as he had retired they ex- 

 humed it, and took their departure. 



It occasionally happens that the very severity 

 of the weather provides starving sea-fowl with a 

 meal. Intense cold sometimes kills such fishes 

 as conger-eels and wrasse or red sea-perch, and 

 when their bodies are washed ashore they are 

 devoured by ravenously hungry birds hovering 

 about the tideway in the hope of finding some 

 edible trifle. 



Frosts soon drive hooded crows away from 



