THE SEA-GULL. 



91 



was a grocer, near whose shop he would alight on 

 a neighboring wall, and receive with gratitude 

 the bits of cheese and other dainties which were 

 offered him. 



At certain times of the year, however, he 

 would take his departure, and generally return 

 with a wife, whom he used to introduce to his old 

 friends, that she might partake of their hospital- 

 ity. Not, indeed, that she would venture so close 

 to the grocer's shop, even for the sake of the 

 cheese-parings ; but she used to enter the village, 

 and frequently spent her time at a [joiid hard by, 

 while Old Pliil went to pay his respects to the 

 purveyor of groceries. 



The Gulls called Mouettes, are as large as Ravens. 



They are brown above, rusty red below, and have 

 on the wings transverse bands of white. These 

 birds are found -everywhere, but abound in Ice- 

 land and Greenland, where they brood among the 

 rocks. 



They are very prolific, several hundred young 

 Mouettes are often seen in a flock, over which 

 the old keep a careful watch. It is a hazardous 

 exploit to go after the eggs ; not only is the life 

 of the seeker endangered by climbing the steep 

 crags which overhang the sea, but also from the 

 fierce attacks of the birds, for so furiously do they 

 contend in defending their possessions, that they 

 often impale themselves on the sharp knife which 

 tlie invader holds over his head. 



