GULLS 107 



Before I give the results of the examination 

 of the contents of 650 sea-birds, I would like to 

 add a few points which have come to my notice 

 during this examination. 



In estimating the amount of fish destroyed 

 by gulls it is necessary, as I have already 

 suggested, to take into consideration the rate 

 of digestion in these birds. I have carried out 

 several experiments in this direction, and give 

 the following as an example of the results 

 obtained : 



For many years the refuse collected from a 

 suburb of Ipswich was dumped on a farm 

 adjacent to my house. During the winter 

 months a flock of over two hundred black- 

 headed gulls and a few common gulls stayed on 

 the farm, and whenever the sanitary carts 

 arrived these birds swooped down on the refuse 

 and picked it over, after which they rested or 

 scattered on the fields until the carts reappeared. 

 On December 13th, 1913, I commenced to feed 

 them each morning with two or three pounds 

 of sprats. The fish were thrown down in a field 

 adjacent to the refuse dump, and about sixty 

 feet from a cowshed. In a day or two the gulls 

 looked for this meal, and a few seconds after 



