XXVII THE BOATSWAIN GULL 249 



drifting to and fro, and beating' against the wind in search of 

 any prey, and darting fearlessly into the very foam of the 

 breakers to obtain it, or floating as buoyantly as corks at a 

 respectful distance from the larger gulls, who may be engaged 

 in tearing to pieces any cast-up carcass, and being content to 

 catch at the smaller morsels which are detached unperceived 

 by the rightful owners of the prize. 



I was much amused the other day by the proceedings of a 

 pair of the black-toed gull, or boatswain.^ These two birds 

 were sitting quietly on an elevated ridge of sand, near which a 

 number of other gulls of different kinds were fishing and hover- 

 ing about in search of what the waves might cast up. Every 

 bird, indeed, was busy and employed, excepting these two black 

 robbers, who seemed to be quietly resting, quite unconcerned. 

 When, however, a gull had picked up a prize, these birds seemed 

 instinctively to know it, and darting off with the rapidity of a 

 hawk (which bird they much resemble in their manner of flight), 

 they attacked the unfortunate gull in the air, and, in spite of his 

 screams and attempts to escape, they pursued and beat him till 

 he disgorged the fish or whatever he had swallowed, when 

 one of them darted down and caught the substance before it 

 could reach the water. The two then returned quietly to their 

 sand-bank, where they waited patiently to repeat the robbery, 

 should an opportunity occur. As the flock of gulls moved on 

 with the flow of the tide the boatswains moved on also, hovering 

 on their flank like a pair of plundering freebooters. I observed 

 that in chasing a gull they seemed perfectly to understand each 

 other as to who should get the spoil ; and in their attacks on 

 the largest gulls (against whom they waged the most fearless 

 warfare) they evidently acted so as to aid each other. If 

 another pair of boatswains intruded on their hunting-ground, 

 they immediately seemed to send them farther off, not so much 

 by actual battle as by a noisy and screaming argument, which 

 they continued most vigorously till the new-comers left the 

 neighbourhood. 



I never saw these birds hunt for their own living in any 

 other way than by robbing the other gulls. Though not nearly 

 so large as some of the birds which they attack, their hawk-like 

 swoops and great courage seem to enable them to fight their 



' Richardson's skua [Lesiris Richardsonii], Moray. — C. St, J. 



