LEARNING TO LIVE 



IN illustration of the concrete study of young animals, 

 we propose in this chapter to give a short account 

 of some observations made a number of years ago on the 

 behaviour of young gulls (Larus ridibundus) artificially 

 hatched. Our study was too slight to afford important 

 results like those reached by Professor Lloyd Morgan and 

 others, but it had its interest, especially as the observations 

 relate to a thoroughly wild bird, and not to the domesti- 

 cated chick. 



The gullery which furnished the material for this study 

 was for many years one of the sights of Spring. The removal 

 of the bird the black-headed gull from the list of those 

 protected has reduced the colony to very small dimensions, 

 which is regrettable from a natural history point of view, 

 and also economically, since the bird is in the main insectiv- 

 orous, and does much good in destroying wireworms and 

 similar pests. But that by the way ; the gullery was a 

 sight to see with four or five thousand birds nesting in a 

 somewhat circumscribed swampy area. When they rose in 

 alarm and filled the air with their wings and deafened us 

 with their harsh cries, we got a vivid impression of the 

 abundance of life. This was increased when the eye 

 became accustomed to detect the hundreds of nests. An- 

 other general fact of which one was apt to receive unpleasant 

 proof was the security of their nesting haunt from human 

 intrusion, for the foothold was treacherous in the extreme. 



Repeated visits made one familiar with the gullery, 



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