Ornithological Observations and Reflections in Shetland. 133 



follows : — ' The Gulls* — few in number, having regard to the 

 extent of territory over which they work — stand motionless 

 and watch the Peewits, as from so many little observatories. 

 Of a sudden, one rises, and at the same moment, you catch 

 the jerk forward of a Peewit's head, in the act of seizing some- 

 thing on the ground. As he jerks it up again, he sees the Gull, 

 which is now almost upon him, and instantly takes to flight, 

 followed by the latter, who, as soon as he is discovered, raises 

 a loud wailing cry which seems to have in it something of an 

 upbraiding quality, as though reproaching the Peewit for its 

 ungenerous behaviour. The Peewit, deaf to these claims of 

 Kultur, exerts itself to the utmost, to get away; labours, at 

 first, its broad green fans, then, suspending their motion, shoots 

 upwards, poises and comes rushing down in one — and then 

 another — of those bold, gliding sweeps, so characteristic of the 

 flight of this species. The Gull pursues, with cry on cry, draws 

 near, overtakes and even, as it were, lays alongside the quarry, 

 but seems purposely to refrain from actual violence ; there is 

 turn and turn, double and double, then, all at once, the pursuer, 

 checking suddenly and often with difficulty its swift full-sail, 

 drops plumb to the ground, picks up and devours something 

 greedily, and either remains standing there, or, with a satisfied 

 look, flies off to another part of the field. When one sees this 

 once, one may think that the Gull has by chance seen some- 

 thing on the ground, and that the chase itself has been a more 

 or less causeless act of aggression. But as the same thing 

 happens again and again — goes on happening, in fact, as long 

 as one stays to watch it — as first one Gull and then another 

 bears down upon first one and then another Peewit, which 

 latter has invariably either just found or just eaten something, 

 this theory has to be abandoned and it soon becomes plain 

 to sense and reason that the Gulls are systematically and of 

 set purpose, robbing the Peewits. Sometimes one may see 



tively and aesthetically elevating, a bird cannot pay for its up-keep. The 

 utilitarianism is gross — revolting. It is as though some dull boor were to 

 slouch through the Louvre, the Vatican or the National Gallery, shrugging 

 his shoulders, and regretting, at every step, that so much space, which 

 might be more profitably filled, should be given up to housing mere knick- 

 knacks. Is it really, then, a new conception to the educated, that a species 

 — a perpetual, living being — -is, in truth, a much greater masterpiece than 

 those which — how great soever they may be — at the most but simulate 

 nature ? Is not Sus scvofa, after all, a little beyond ' The Florentine 

 Boar ' ? Humanity, like Malvoleo, is ' sick of self-love.' How we should 

 shudder at the threatened extinction of Gull, Goose or Magpie, if ' one of 

 the old masters ' had made them. What should we think then, of the 

 ' passing ' of the Eagle — or Bird of Paradise, that chef d'ceuvre of how 

 great a colourist ? 



* Lams ridibundus is the species — only quite lately threatened, as 

 set forth in the note above. So charming a bird, the winter delight of 

 our London parks and Thames bridges — largely, too, an insect-eater ! 



1918 April 1. 



