ECOLOGY OF ISLE ROYALE. 343 



to take the newly hatched young from the nest and raise them at their 

 homes. Some who have a few chickens take the eggs and place them 

 under a setting hen. These young soon become as tame as chickens, and 

 feed upon any form of table refuse. The writer procured five of these 

 young from some fishermen. They ranged in size from one about two 

 months old and nearly able to fly to a little downy fellow scarcely three 

 weeks old. These had all been obtained on some rocks just outside of 

 Washington Harbor. They came into the writer's possession on August 

 8, and in a few days were turned loose on the beach in front of our camp 

 on Siskowit Bay. 



They ate everything offered them, vegetable as well as animal matter. 

 Fish seemed to be particularly relished. Whatever they ate was 

 swallowed entire if it could possibly be gotten into the mouth. One 

 such instance was especially ludicrous. A northern red squirrel with 

 simply the skin and head removed was fed to the youngest. Because of 

 the weight it was with considerable difliculty that the squirrel was 

 started in the right direction. The body was too long, so that when 

 swallowed, the tail still protruded from the gull's mouth. By stretching 

 its neck as high as possible, most of the tail disappeared, only to appear 

 again as soon as the gull dropped its head down on its shoulders, and 

 closed its eyes in the satisfied manner evinced by all the young gulls 

 after a good meal. 



Often when food was given to them they picked it up and walked to 

 the water, swashing it around several times before eating. The do'naiy 

 young never ventured into the water where they would have to swim, 

 preferring to stand on the beach where the waves would just lap their 

 feet. The older ones often swam out a considerable distance from land 

 and made the acquaintance of a young wild gull able to fly. After a 

 few days this latter bird became tame enough to come on the beach to 

 be fed. One of the most characteristic habits of the young gulls was to 

 walk to the water's edge where the waves would just wash their legs, 

 and dive the head down into the water, raise it quickly and throw the 

 water over their backs, at the same time giving the tail a few jerks 

 side wise. This performance was repeated many times each day, often 

 not five minutes apart. The young which had acquired their full plum- 

 age, but were not able to fly, could usually be told from those which 

 were able to do so, by their manner of holding the head. The former 

 rarely held the head erect, either when on the water or land, usually 

 holding it well forward and often on a level with the back, while those 

 able to fly held the head erect and nearly straight above the breast. The 

 change appeared to take place immediately after the first flight. For 

 many days before this occurred the young gull would be seen jumping 

 Tip and down on the beach, often to a height of two or three feet, flapping- 

 its wings rapidly at the same time. The first flight of our largest gull 

 occurred one afternoon after one of these performances. Making a 

 short run down the sloping beach it rose on its wings with a few rather 

 uncertain sfrokes and sailed out over the harbor. The flight must have 

 covered half a mile when it returned and alighted on the water near 

 camp. Its alighting was anything but graceful, for not being used to 

 this new method of locomotion, it raised its wings straight over its back 

 and dropped heavily into the water, nearly submerging itself. When 



