110 BIKDS 



where I write there are high, almost perpendicular cliffs, 

 and from these one can look down over miles of sea. The 

 water near the shore is usually covered with flocks of sea 

 birds which breed or roost in the cliff. The adult gulls, 

 which are mainly white, are extremely difficult to see, 

 though they can be plainly heard, and they would often 

 escape notice altogether but for the presence among them 

 of young birds in their dark mottled plumage. The 

 colour of these immature birds tones exactly with the 

 broken stone on the side of the cliff where the nests are 

 made, but on the water it betrays them at once. The still 

 darker cormorants, which are practically black, are always 

 seen at once though they are usually solitary when swim- 

 ming, and so offer a much smaller object to the eye than 

 a flock of twenty or thirty gulls. A few wild ducks may 

 also be seen under the cliffs, and these, like the cor- 

 morants, are always visible. Black-backed gulls, guille- 

 mots, razor-bills, and puffins we seldom see here, but I 

 saw a good deal of these birds some years ago when 

 yachting in the Irish Sea and off the west coast of Scot- 

 land, and they were always far more conspicuous than the 

 grey gulls either on the open sea or in the air. 



SOUTH COAST. 



February 1, 1902. 



II 



With reference to " South Coast's " letter in the 

 Spectator of February 1, in which the question is mooted 

 as to whether the white and grey colours of sea gulls are 

 the most suitable for " protective " purposes, may I be 

 permitted to express the opinion that the enemies of sea- 

 gulls being so few, the evolutionary process of adapting 

 a " protective " colouring against such has not yet been 

 called into active operation? On the other hand, a sea- 

 gull to support life on its natural diet of fish should be 

 inconspicuous to its prey. Whether it be the cold grey 



