280 THE LOG OF THE SUN 



nooks and hurled high in air, to fall broken and 

 helpless among the boulders. The quick eye of 

 the gull saw it all, and at that instant of intensest 

 chaos of the elements, the brain of the bird found 

 itself. 



Shortly afterward came night and sleep, but the 

 new-found flash of knowledge was not lost. 



The next day the bird walked at low tide into 

 the stronghold of the shell-fish, roughly tore one 

 from the silky strands of its moorings, and carry- 

 ing it far upward let it fall at random among the 

 rocks. The toothsome morsel was snatched from 

 its crushed shell and a triumphant scream told of 

 success, — a scream which, could it have been 

 interpreted, should have made a myriad, myriad 

 mussels shrink within their shells ! 



From gull to gull, and from flock to flock, the 

 new habit spread, imitation taking instant advan- 

 tage of this new source of food. When to-day 

 we walk along the shore and see flocks of gulls 

 playing ducks and drakes with the unfortunate 

 shell-fish, give them not too much credit, but think 

 of some bird which in the long ago first learned 

 the lesson, whether by chance or, as I have sug- 

 gested, by observing the victims of the wave£. 

 • ••••• > 



No scientific facts are these, but merely a logi- 

 cal reasoning deduced from the habits and traits 

 of the birds as we know them to-day; a theory to 

 hold in mind w r hile we watch for its confirmation 



