84 THE LAND'S END 



scribed by Jonathan Couch and other writers on the 

 habits of the native fishes as occurring in our waters. 

 A native of Hayle, a boatman and a keen observer of 

 bird and fish life, gave me the following account of a 

 scene he witnessed in St. Ives Bay, not far from the 

 Godrevy Lighthouse. His attention was attracted by 

 a great concourse of gulls and gannets, and rowing 

 to the spot he found the surface of the sea boiling 

 with an immense shoal of sand-eels rushing about on 

 the surface and leaping clean out of the water in their 

 efforts to escape from their pursuers. It was a very 

 unusual sight, as the shoals of sand-eels are usually 

 small, but here they swarmed at the surface over a 

 very large area probably six or seven acres. It was 

 a fine bright day and the water being marvellously 

 clear he could see the pollack ranging swiftly about at 

 a considerable depth and rising at intervals to the 

 surface to capture their prey. Meanwhile the birds 

 in hundreds were hovering overhead, the gannets 

 coming down in their usual way like huge stones 

 hurled into the sea, the gulls swooping lightly and 

 snatching their prey and rising with the long silvery 

 wriggling fishes in their beaks. 



Every gull thus rising with a launce in its beak was 

 of course instantly pursued and set upon by all the 

 others flying near and had to fight furiously to retain 

 his capture. 



That is invariably the gull's way : even when fish 

 are swarming on the surface and easily taken they 

 must give vent to their predatory instincts and waste 

 time and energy in robbing one another and in squab- 



