338 



AUTUMN AND WINTER 



and on the lakes in the various parks. But their skill in 

 catching bread or fish thrown to them in mid-air makes them 

 favourite pets with Londoners ; and a flock of gulls wheeling 

 with harsh screams in an endless circle past a figure on the 

 wet grey embankment is one of the most characteristic 

 pictures of outdoor London life. They will alight a moment 

 on the parapet with wary eyes, and carry away a crust to 

 consume as they float on the stream ; and sometimes they 

 will even feed from the hand. 



Black-headed gulls make up the vast majority of the 

 birds of their tribe which visit London. Occasionally the 



much larger herring gull is seen floating warily in mid-stream, 

 or a common gull flits among the barges on the river ; but 

 neither, so far as we have seen, is ever confident enough to 

 come and catch food thrown from the Embankment, far less to 

 take it from human hands. Herring gulls in the adult plumage 

 of soft grey and white are much scarcer on the Thames than 

 young birds in mottled suits of grey and brown. Among 

 the black-headed gulls there are always a large proportion 

 of birds in similar mottled plumage ; and it is not until the 

 early weeks of the new year that the old birds gradually 

 assume the sepia mask of their spring plumage which gives 

 them their commonest name. Earlier in the season they 

 have only two faint dark bars on the head, one across the 



