Gull Dick 



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Nobody could say where he had been, of course ; 

 but he almost always showed signs of wear and 

 tear, as if from contests with gales that had 

 torn feathers from wings and tail, and seemed 

 tired and hungry, as if a very long flight had 

 just been finished. No wonder, then, that he 

 came straight to the lightship, and hovered 

 about it in pleased expectation of rest and the 

 full breakfast that never failed him. 



One day in 1891 an ornithologist, Mr. George 

 H. McKay, discovered what these good sailor- 

 men had known for twenty years, and straight- 

 way the comings and goings of Gull Dick began 

 to be regularly reported and discussed in The 

 Auk, quite as if he were a real Newport " swell." 



Every morning at sunrise, when the great 

 lanterns at the masthead were lowered, Dick 

 would take it as a signal, and be seen flying 

 steadily toward the little vessel from the rocks, 

 two miles away, where he had spent the night 

 roosting in some snug crevice. If now and then 

 he was not in sight, one of the crew had only 

 to call or whistle a minute or two, when the 

 knowing bird would appear, and wait on the 



So- 



