BIRD-LIFE BY RIVER AND STREAM. 75 



up in himself; and if disturbed by an approaching 

 boat he leisurely unfolds his broad black wings 

 and flaps away his checkered plumage, forming 

 a pleasing contrast with the green overhanging 

 woods or the grey and red expanses of mud. 

 More tame and confiding, the snowy-breasted 

 Gulls wheel and circle overhead, or drop down- 

 wards to the surface of the water to seize some 

 tempting morsel ; whilst at other times they may 

 be descried at vast altitudes above the winding 

 river, poised as it were with no conscious effort 

 between earth and sky, or gliding along with 

 intermittent wing-beats towards the hilly pastures 

 or the more distant sea. And talking of Gulls 

 and Herons reminds us of a fight we once 

 witnessed between a Herring Gull and a Heron 

 almost over Galmpton Bay on this self-same 

 river Dart. From a note describing the strange 

 battle just after it had taken place we may give 

 the following particulars. It was on the morning 

 of the 7th of May 1891. I had flushed a Heron 

 from the rocky beach, and the big bird soared up 

 into the air for several hundreds of feet, when a 

 Herring Gull, for no apparent reason, dashed 

 after it and began to buffet it most furiously. 



