20 THE LAND'S END 



In the gulls this habit is universal ; their " wide eyes 

 that search the sea " have discovered that where there 

 is a ship or boat something may be picked up by 

 following it, and in all lands where there is a plough 

 to share the soil the plougher is pretty sure to have 

 a following of gulls at his heels. In harbours they 

 are much at home, but are especially attracted to a 

 fishing town, and it would be hard to find one where 

 they make a better appearance than at St. Ives. But 

 not solely on account of their numbers and tameness, 

 since they congregate at all fishing stations and are 

 just as tame and abundant elsewhere. At St. Ives 

 they make a better show because of the picturesque 

 character of the place itself the small harbour, open 

 to the wide blue bay and the Atlantic, crowded 

 with its forest of tall slim masts resembling a 

 thick grove of larches in winter, while for back- 

 ground there is the little old town, its semicircle of 

 irregular quaint and curious stone-grey and tile-red 

 buildings. 



The gulls that congregate here are of several kinds: 

 on most days one can easily count five species, the 

 most abundant being the herring and the lesser black- 

 backed gulls, and with them you generally see one or 

 two great black-backs. Then there are the two 

 small species, the common and the black-headed gull. 

 These, when it comes to a general scramble for the 

 small fishes and other waste, are mere pickers-up of 

 unconsidered trifles on the outskirts of the whirlwind 

 of wings, the real fighting area, and their guttural 

 cries a familiar sound to Londoners in winter are 



