BIEDS AND MEN 149 



werth. It died the very day she was to have started for 

 Scutari (her departure was delayed two days), ' and the 

 only tear that she shed during that tremendous week was 



when put the little body into her hand/ ' Poor 



little beastie,' she said, ' it was odd how much I loved 

 you.' " 



C. E. LABTEB. 



August 20, 1910. 



TAME GULLS. 



There are thousands of gulls in Wick, all of them more 

 or less tame. I send you a photograph. They perform 

 the same sort of service as the Constantinople dogs, and, 

 like them, they have their beats. Each street, more 

 especially in the east end, has perhaps three flocks, one 

 at the top, one further down, and another at the foot, 

 where, with shrill cries, they strut about disputing over 

 any offal the people may throw out. Each group seems 

 to have a leader, who as soon as he sees any potato-skins 

 or such-like, thrown out by the housewife after dinner, 

 throws back his head and yells at the top of his voice. 

 His company immediately fall on the scraps, and when 

 the mess is nearly cleaned up, he drives them from the 

 field, and proceeds to pick up the fragments with a lordly 

 sort of contempt. 



We had one, Jock by name, who had his stance on an 

 outhouse at our back-door, for over twenty years. He 

 would come down and take food from one's hand readily, 

 more especially in winter, but he would never come down 

 if you had a hat on. He had a way of looking sideways 

 through the kitchen window, and it was amusing to see 

 how eagerly he came to anyone who had meat in his 

 hand. He could distinguish at a distance of ten yards the 

 difference between it and bread. His chief delight was 

 game, such as rabbit or hare, and though he ordinarily 

 went home to the rocks about four, if he got the remains 

 of the above, he would stay till dark expecting more. He 



