THE NATURALIST AT SEA. 7 



or at the rate of 106 miles per hour. Gulls may be able to 

 attain such a speed, but under ordinary circumstances they 

 never do so. The writer has spent many hours watching 

 these birds, and never has their pace approached this rate. 

 Forty miles an hour would appear to be their limit. But 

 they are never pushed, so may be capable of yet greater 

 speed. Could anyone devise some experiment, whereby the 

 velocity of flying birds could be accurately gauged, he 

 would be a benefactor to science. 



Gulls, like vultures, have excellent sight. If pieces of 

 bread be thrown into the water, the gulls will quickly seize 

 them, but they will not take the slightest notice of paper- 

 balls similarly thrown to them. They appear to fly with 

 eyes fixed upon the water. If a piece of bread be thrown 

 from a moving ship into the sea the gulls which are ahead 

 of the bread when it reaches the water will make no effort 

 to pick it up, apparently not having seen it. On the other 

 hand, one of the gulls behind the bread when it drops into 

 the water will never fail to secure it. 



The sea-gull is, perhaps, the most fascinating of all the 

 interesting studies that present themselves to the naturalist 

 during the voyage to England. 



