268 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



But some of them do not spend the whole of their time on the 

 shore, or in flying over the sea. Hundreds upon hundreds of them 

 may often be seen in a newly-ploughed field, sometimes many 

 miles from sea. The rich brown soil is dotted all over with their 

 white and gray bodies. Among them are a number of glossy black 

 rooks, so that the field has quite a chequered and lively appearance. 

 And all of them, white birds and black alike, are busily hunting 

 for the worms and grubs that have been turned up by the plough. 



Near the coast, indeed, the gulls are among the farmers' best 

 friends. To the newly-turned soil they come, day after day, in 

 search of the destructive creatures that feed on the roots of our 

 crops; and many a wire-worm, and "leather-jacket", and fat white 

 cockchafer grub do they devour before his mischief is half com- 

 pleted. So useful are they, indeed, that it is scarcely too much to 

 say that, if it were not for the gulls and the rooks, the sea-side 

 farmer would scarcely be able to grow any crops. 



It may be asked why a gull's nest is never found by the sea- 

 side.'' It is because the gulls fly far away just before the nesting 

 season begins. Some make their way to inland marshes, and lay 

 their eggs in the reed-beds, trampling down the grass and rushes 

 into a kind of rough platform on which to place them. But the 

 greater number go to the high rocky islands on our northern coasts; 

 and there, on the ledges of the lofty cliffs, their eggs are laid in 

 hundreds of thousands. 



It is a wonderful sight when something alarms the gulls on one 

 of these islands; for up they fly, in countless multitudes, even 

 darkening the sky with their dense masses, and almost deafening 

 one with the rush of their hurrying wings. And they come swoop- 

 ing down again with almost equal turmoil, each by some wonderful 

 instinct finding its way to its own little cluster of eggs, which 

 lie quite unprotected on the ledges of the high rocky cliffs. 



Those who take gulls' eggs have to be lowered by long ropes 

 from above; and there are men who make it their profession to 

 rob the ledges twice in the season of all the eggs, which they sell, 

 as they are a valued article of human food. Once more, however, 

 the despoiled birds will lay; and this time they are allowed to 

 hatch their eggs and bring up their little ones in peace. 



