SA^D DUNES AND SALT MARSHES 



this posture-concealing habit early in life 

 shows its antiquity and long inheritance. 



Although I have described the beautiful 

 evolutions of herring gulls as seen from the 

 dunes, they must again be mentioned here, 

 for the marsh in the autumn is a favorite 

 resort for these birds. Then it is that one 

 sees an acre or more of brown marsh become 

 white like snow with these splendid gulls. 

 Suddenly they rise, the snow vanishes as they 

 turn in shadow, again to flash out in a brilliant 

 white cloud high in the air. As they circle 

 about, first one way then another, all calling 

 and talking together, they rise higher and 

 higher, when with a common impulse they 

 descend with great rapidity, circling sharply 

 and tipping their wings from side to side, and 

 the patch of snow reappears in the brown 

 marsh. 



At all seasons the herring gulls are fond 

 of feeding in the creeks and estuaries at low 

 tide, and one can often float in a canoe within 

 close range of these wary birds. They are 

 adepts at picking from the surface of the 

 water any edible flotsam and jetsam, and they 

 often do this without wetting a feather, save 

 only the tip of the tail, which they spread 



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