THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 185 



as though he, and not you, had been the injured 

 party. 



I believe the men brought these young birds from 

 the north Scotland where our fishing-boats ran 

 at times for fish or other produce. A certain 

 man with a keen eye to business first introduced 

 the birds to our folks to be turned out into their 

 gardens, the cobs being such mighty hunters of 

 small deer. He had tried one first himself that 

 he had caught on a line and pinioned, and it had 

 proved so useful that in a very short time not a 

 snail or slug could be found in his garden, nor, said 

 he, dared a worm so much as show itself above 

 ground when that cob was about. Even the rats 

 and mice that had swarmed about his pigsties 

 vanished. One day a three - parts - grown rat was 

 seen going down the cob's throat. After that, all 

 the folks who had gardens wanted a young cob to 

 put in them. In the season we boys used to look 

 forward eagerly to the advent of the great birds 

 when the boats returned from the northern fishing- 

 grounds. They brought a good price in those days. 

 Not many, however, arrived at maturity. It takes 

 three or four years for them to do that in a state 



