218 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xxvn. 



beating against the wind in search of any prey, and darting fear- 

 lessly into the very foam of the breakers to obtain it, or floating 

 as buoyantly as corks at a respectful distance from the larger 

 gulls, who may be engaged in tearing to pieces any cast tip car- 

 cass, and being content to catch at the smaller morsels which 

 are detached unperceived by the rightful owners of the prize. 



I was much amused the other day by the proceedings of a pair 

 of the black-toed gull, or boatswain. These two birds were sit- 

 ting quietly on an elevated ridge of sand, near which a number 

 of other gulls of different kinds were fishing and hovering about 

 in search of what the waves might cast up. Every bird, indeed, 

 was busy and employed, excepting these two black robbers, who 

 seemed to be quietly resting, quite unconcerned. When, how- 

 ever, a gull had picked up a prize, these birds seemed instinctively 

 to know it, and darting off with the rapidity of a hawk (which 

 bird they much resemble in their manner of flight), they attacked 

 the unfortunate gull in the air, and, in spite of his screams and 

 attempts to escape, they pursued and beat him till he disgorged 

 the fish or whatever he had swallowed, when one of them darted 

 down and caught the substance before it could reach the water. 

 The two then returned quietly back to their sand-bank, where 

 they waited patiently to repeat the robbery, should an opportunity 

 occur. As the flock of gulls moved on with the flow of the tide 

 the boatswains moved on also, hovering on their flank like a pair 

 of plundering freebooters. I observed that in chasing a gull 

 they seemed perfectly to understand each other as to who should 

 get the spoil ; and in their attacks on the largest gulls (against 

 whom they waged the most fearless warfare), they evidently 

 acted so as to aid each other. If another pair of boatswains 

 intruded on their hunting-ground, they immediately seemed to 

 send them farther off, not so much by actual battle as by a noisy 

 and screaming argument, which they continued most vigorously 

 till the new comers left the neighbourhood. 



I never saw these birds hunt for their own living in any other 

 way than by robbing the other gulls. Though not nearly so 

 large as some of the birds which they attack, their hawk-like 

 swoops and great courage seem to enable them to fight their way 

 most successfully. They are neatly and powerfully made their 



