152 



shooting a net round them frequently enclose large 

 numbers. Should any Gulls, however, be near at 

 hand, their sharp eyes are sure to detect the first 

 ripple on the water, and dashing down into the 

 middle of the shoal they drive the fish to the 

 bottom, and the men who may have rowed hard 

 for half a mile or more and possibly paid out a 

 portion of their net find their time and labour 

 thrown away, while the mischievous bird with a 

 derisive scream sails off to repeat the performance 

 at the earliest opportunity. 



While watching the proceedings I have often 

 been requested to kill the Gulls, the men declaring 

 that what with the Bird Act and the gun license, 

 they are unable to help themselves, being forced to 

 stand quietly by while the birds snatched the bread 

 from their mouths. 



The number of these Gulls that congregate in 

 the North Sea during the herring season in the 

 Autumn is something enormous ; here, again, they 

 cause great loss to the fishermen. I have been 

 assured by the masters of some of the luggers that 

 they have frequently been deprived of a last of 

 herrings and occasionally up to even four or five 

 times that quantity by their depredations. 



As a last is over ten thousand fish, the number 

 might seem incredible to those who have never had 

 an opportunity of watching a large flock of these 

 birds gathered round a boat that is making a good 

 haul. 



The number that they swallow is small com- 

 pared with those they bite and shake from the nets. 

 I have myself repeatedly observed as many as a 

 thousand or two of the larger species of Gulls 

 attacking the nets of a single boat ; at times tak- 

 ing hold of the lines in their beaks they rise in the 

 air and attempt to shake out the fish. The small 

 boat is occasionally sent to drive off the birds, but 

 if disturbed from one part of the nets they rapidly 

 commence operations on another. 



