16 PKOCEEDINGS OP THE 



one or more gulls would dive at it and force it to move on. At 

 such times the speed of the gull seemed fully as great as that of 

 the falcon. There was no sign of retaliation, not even any back 

 talk, and the usually courageous bird of prey fled like a driven 

 coward. 



While this was going on, the tide had carried the whole action 

 a quarter of a mile up river. Then the hawk gave up the 

 struggle and flew entirely away, while the gulls scattered to their 

 usual occupations. It seemed to be the end of the incident, but 

 it was not. After about twenty minutes the hawk reappeared. 

 The tug and barges were then nearly out of sight down the river, 

 but without hesitation the hawk went to the spot where it had 

 dropped its prey. Beating back and forth, it carefully examined 

 the surface of the river, following the course taken during the 

 altercation with the gulls. Naturally, it did not find what it 

 was looking for, because by that time its prey was a half mile 

 or more futher up the river. Instead of continuing the search, 

 the hawk gave up, at the point where it had been driven away, 

 rose high in the air, made a few vicious-looking plunges at 

 some gulls, which were not doing any harm just then, and 

 finally disappeared in the distance. 



I have seen gulls mob a Fish Hawk which had made a good 

 catch. In that case there was every reason to think that the 

 gulls would gladly have eaten the fish, if thej'' could have se- 

 cured it. But why did they assail this Duck Hawk, which had 

 a perfect right to carry something about if it wished to, if they 

 did not desire what it carried ? Was it simple meanness for 

 them to prevent it from recovering its property ? Did the hawk 

 go away so as to allow the troublesome gulls to disperse ? If 

 it had that much sense, why did it fail to understand that the 

 drift of the tide would go on while it was away ? Did it know 

 anything about the tide at all ? Or was the sense of time poorly 

 developed or altogether wanting ? Memory there surely was, and 

 an accurate sense of locality, not disturbed by the removal of 

 one of the most prominent features of the landscape. There 

 was every indication of resentment toward those gulls. But 

 who can say how nearly these psychic processes correspond to 

 our own? Perhaps that is part of the work laid out for the ob- 

 servers of the present and the future. 



