BIRDS. 379 



the buoyant case with, which they ride upon the waves, and 

 the animation which they give to the scene. Perhaps few 

 ordinary occurrences are more striking than what is termed a 

 " play of gulls;" when the birds, having discovered a shoal of 

 young fish, are swimming among them, hovering over them, 

 uttering wild screams of joy, plunging down into the midst 

 of the shoal, and gorging their prey with riotous delight. 

 This, however, is not their only food. The carrion and the 

 offal of the beach are not less acceptable; and two of our 

 largest native species* attack wounded birds, and will even 

 carry them off before the shooter, by whom they have been 

 struck, can reach the spot. " When, says Mr. St. John, " I 

 have winged a duck, and it has escaped and gone out to sea, 

 I have frequently seen it attacked and devoured almost alive 

 by these birds. "f 



Their voracious appetite occasionally brings them into peril. 

 Thus the Kittiwake and other Gulls are taken at Ballintrae, in 

 Ayrshire, by hooks baited with the liver of the cod-fish, and 

 are sold for the sake of their feathers. In other localities the 

 Gulls seek to diversify their fare in spring-time by visiting the 

 fields, and picking up the grubs and worms which the plough 

 brings to the surface; and at Horn Head, in the County 

 Donegal, the Herring Gull (L. argentatus) is said to destroy 

 young rabbits, j 



The precipitous cliffs, and the low lying ledges of rocks, on 

 which the various species of Gulls build their nests and bring 

 forth their young, are, in many respects, interesting objects 

 for contemplation. At first sight all seems confusion, and the 

 nests indiscriminately mingled; but a little further examina- 

 tion shows that order prevails amid the apparent disorder, and 

 that each kind of Gull apparently gives a preference to a cer- 

 tain situation. But these are not their only breeding haunts; 

 the little island in a retired mountain lake, and other island 

 localities of a similar kind are favourite places of resort. In 

 Norfolk, at a distance of thirty miles from the sea, thousands 

 of the Black-headed or Red-legged Gull (L. ridibundus^ Fig. 



* The Great Black-backed (Larus marinus), and the Herring-Gull 

 (//. argentatus). 



f Wild Sports of the Highlands, p. 216. 



j The principal points of information in this paragraph are derived from 

 the MS. Notes of Mr. W. Thompson, which have been most kindly placed 

 at our disposal. 



