THE GULLS 



267 



And all the time their keen, bright eyes are eagerly scanning the 

 water below in search of food. 



Now one of them dashes down to the surface of the water, and 

 rises again an instant later into the air. He has caught a fish or a 

 floating titbit, and is ready for more. Now the whole flock have 



Herring Gull 



descended and are sitting on the water, bobbing up and down with 

 the motion of the waves. A shoal of fish fry is passing, and a hundred 

 heads are under water in a moment, and play havoc with the 

 infant fishes. Very soon all the pretty white birds are in the air 

 again, sweeping as before to and fro over the sea. 



We see them again when the tide is down, and the retreating 

 waves have left many a dead crab, and star-fish, and shell-bearing 

 mollusc behind. How busy they are as they traverse the water's 

 edge, and search every inch of the mud for sundry dainty morsels! 

 They are still busy when the water comes in again. They retreat 

 slowly before it, keeping sharp watch for anything eatable as they 

 go. And so for hours we may watch their ways and doings until, 

 when the shore is fully flooded, they rise into the air once more and 

 take to feeding on the crest of the waves. 



