io6 BIRD WATCHING 



quite a spirited stand against the " good " hero, who, 

 by all the laws of such things, should fell him to the 

 ground and spurn him, so as to make the orthodox 

 situation. Instead of this there is an equal combat 

 which ends only in " nothing neither way," except that, 

 as the bad gull still goes on afterwards, it is more in 

 his favour than the other's. He wins, in fact, for the 

 lovers are at length wearied out, and the contemplated 

 impropriety never does take place. It is a pity almost 

 that it cannot sometimes go like this in stage reality. 

 To see the hero, just when most reeking with noble 

 utterance, put suddenly into an unshowy position by 

 the " hound " or the " cringing cur " would be a 

 glorious thing, a delightful — almost a Gilbertian — 

 ddnouement. One could applaud it "to the very 

 echo that should applaud again," but one never gets 

 the chance — or, rather, one would not if one tried, for 

 I will not suppose that anyone with a taste for nature 

 affects the melodrama — or even the drama nowadays. 

 Gull-fights are sometimes very fierce and deter- 

 mined, and when this is the case they often cause 

 great excitement among a number of others. As 

 on the human plane, fights between birds make 

 impressions upon one according to the greater or 

 lesser amount of intensity manifested, becoming some- 

 times quite tragic in their interest. Not only is this 

 the case with oneself, but birds that are not fighting 

 seem affected in the same way. I have noticed this 

 with partridges somewhat — but more in the gullery. 

 An ordinary scuffle between two birds attracts 

 little if any notice from the others, but when it is 

 sustained and bitter, supported with great courage on 

 either side, there may be quite a crowd of excited on- 



