136 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 
then setting up their tables and “ splitting ” the cod 
with surprising dexterity.® 
This industry resulted in a singular habit among 
the Herring Gulls, which, when first seen, I was at a 
a ae ee Se 
75. Splitting cod on Pereé beach. Pereé Rock in the distance. 
loss to explain. In a cultivated hillside bordering 
the town a flock of about fifty Gulls was observed 
eagerly devouring some food, which was apparently 
abundant. “ Grasshoppers,” I thought, but on in- 
vestigation the grasshoppers proved to be entrails, 
heads, vertebree, ete., of codfish, which had been 
strewn over the fields as fertilizer. The Gulls took 
wing at my approach, and perched in long rows on 
the fences; a curious sight, of which I tried, but 
failed, to secure a picture. 
It was through these fields, and along the crests 
of the red sandstone cliffs northwest of the town, 
