116 BIRDS OF THE WORLD 



screams of these birds above a heavy storm are fre- 

 quently heard on vessels far out at sea. 



The young are covered with a fluffy down, usually 

 mottled with grey, light brown and white. They re- 

 main in the nest for a considerable time and are so 

 protectively coloured that they are with difficulty dis- 

 tinguished from their surroundings. 



Besides living food. Gulls consume an immense 

 amount of refuse matter found along shore in the 

 neighbourhood of cities. For some years scows laden 

 with refuse from the city of New York have, at regu- 

 lar intervals, emptied their contents some miles out at 

 sea. At the shriek of the whistle on one of these 

 barges — the signal to dump the garbage into the sea — 

 they begin to gather in thousands to feed upon it, and 

 those who have seen it say it is a most remarkable spec- 

 tacle to see these birds hurrying from all quarters to 

 the feast. 



Great numbers of Gulls were formerly killed by 

 feather hunters, but fortunately they are now pro- 

 tected, and they have again become quite plentiful 

 along our coasts. 



The Herring Gull affords a good instance of the 

 Gulls which take several years to attain the character- 

 istic adult dress. The back in this species is a delicate 

 grey, the rest of the plumage pure white, set off by the 

 yellow colour of the feet and beak. The beak is fur- 

 ther decorated by a touch of bright red. The eye is 

 a beautiful straw colour, set in a frame of vermilion 

 formed by the rim of the eyelid. The sexes cannot be 

 distinguished externally, and the summer and winter 

 plumage is alike, except that in winter the head is 



