340 



Bird - Lore 



middle of March a thousand or more Gulls were being fed. The Post Fish 

 Company and Lea Bros, also fed the Gulls. 



Later, the Humane Society enlisted the sympathies of the children, and 

 on March 29 baskets of food brought to the different school buildings were 

 taken to the Gulls. However, they had been so well supplied with fish that 

 they would not eat dry bread, as a hungry Gull will. After the bread on the 



AT i;rkakfast time 



ice became wet, th'ey took it, but rejected corn, oats, and peanuts. About 

 April 2 the ice broke up. 



It was commonly believed that the severe winter prevented the birds from 

 finding open water, and that they would have starved if food had not been 

 given them. Perhaps the number of Gulls on Lake Erie was increased by 

 the closing of lakes farther north. The western portion of Lake Erie was 

 frozen, so that teams and automobiles crossed from Canada to Ohio, some- 

 thing which is possible only in unusually severe winters. The first half of 

 the winter there was open water much of the time within a few miles of 

 Sandusky, but by March 12 the various weather-bureau stations reported 

 that ice covered the lake beyond the range of vision, and the Gulls were 

 therefore deprived of this usual source of food. 



When Mr. Beverick began feeding the Gulls, they were shy, but in time 

 became so tame as to take fish from the basket he held in his hand. The flap- 

 ping of hundreds of white wings was a pretty sight, and many people were 

 attracted to the docks. One photographer, Mr. Niebergall, took one hundred 

 and twenty five different views of the birds. 



Mr. Beverick saw a Gull swallow three herrings, which together probably 

 weighed about two and one-half pounds. It tried unsuccessfully to swallow a 



