404 GOOD-NATURED, NOT STUPID. [CHAP, xii. 



in to him. He looks first at the fish, then at the cruel 

 donor, the kidnapper and pinioner of birds ; his eye is 

 distrustful, eager, angry, amicable, all in quick succes- 

 sion. Down goes a morsel, then another. He glances 

 at his enslaver, who stands looking on ; no further harm 

 is done, so he takes his next piece of fish and washes 

 it in the water before swallowing it. Another is served 

 in the same way ; still no more harm from the horrid 

 tyrannical man. He looks at him confidently, and 

 would, if he could, say, " Well ! here I am in prison : 

 you 're my turnkey ; let us shake hands ; quarrelling 

 will only make bad worse ; let 's be comfortable to- 

 gether;" the kidnapper then throws the hen-coop on 

 its back, and dismisses M. Gull on his parole d'honneur. 

 And he is wiser than Smith O'Brien; he accepts his 

 ticket of leave, and makes the best of a bad bargain. 



It is the innate good-nature of Gulls, I believe, and 

 not any folly or stupidity that can be deservedly attri- 

 buted to them, which has raised the outcry arid charge 

 of Gullibility. They are bons in a sort of French 

 sense ; what the Norfolk rustics call silly-good-tempered. 

 The ridiculous, laughing twinkle in the eye of a Gull 

 who feels himself at home must be seen to be appre- 

 ciated. A Gull of mine was missing, we knew not how. 

 Some workmen on the place had their job stopped, and 

 were sent about their business. In about a week comes 

 a boy, " Sir, my father bought a Gull of a man that 

 stood at such and such a crossways, and he thought you 

 might like to have it." The basket was a loose twisted 

 one ; and through the sticks, and especially when the 

 lid was just raised, I saw a bright eye peeping at me 

 with a " How d' ye do ? All right ! " 



" Halloo ! my boy ! " said I, " this is my Gull back 



