270 PARASI'BICAL GULLS. 



Dutclimen the " Burgomaster," from Ms tyran- 

 nical and rapacious selfisliness. Neither of 

 these birds ever seem to take the trouble to 

 pick up anything for themselves ; but as soon 

 as they observe any other gull in possession of 

 a morsel which he is not able to swallow out- 

 right, they dash at him and hunt him through 

 the air, until the victim is obliged to drop 

 whatever he has secured, and the ravenous 

 burgomaster then appropriates and swallows it 

 himself. I have watched many of these nefa- 

 rious transactions, and the result is always the 

 same ; the small gull turns, and twists, and 

 doubles, and dodges, screaming all the time so 

 pitifully that one would think he exj)ected to 

 lose his life instead of his dinner ; but at last 

 he is compelled to give up possession, and the 

 burgomaster then ceases to molest him. In 

 the breeding season, these parasitical gulls also 

 pick the eggs out of the nests of the inferior 

 tribes; but fortunately for the latter, the 

 number of their persecutors is very limited, or 

 else they would soon get exterminated alto- 

 gether, and then L. parasiticus and li. glaucus 

 would be compelled to have recourse to a more 

 reputable mode of life to obtain a subsistence. 

 The sailors are very fond of playing off a 



