SEA GULLS. 95 



gulls can command ; but instinct has taught them 

 to have recourse to a method of unshelling the 

 crabs that certainly I should not have thought of. 

 Seizing the one they intend to operate upon, they 

 fly up to the height of ten or twelve feet, and 

 letting it drop it naturally falls on the heaviest, or 

 topside of the shell. Before the little animal can 

 recover itself, the gull has caught it again, and 

 flying up with it the same height as before, he lets 

 it drop a second time, and so he continues till the 

 repeated falls have fractured the shell, and he gets 

 at the animal without further trouble. It takes ten 

 or twelve of these short flights to accomplish the ob- 

 ject, but it never fails ; and as the birds are certainly 

 patterns of perseverance in their pursuit, they get, 

 no doubt, a good living in this very singular manner. 

 Besides this instance of their sagacity, I have seen 

 gulls over and over again defeat the attempts of the 

 hawk to pounce upon them, by making a very 

 successful but very unusual flight for them, which 

 was to vie with the hawk himself in the elevation 

 he was obliged to take for the success of his swoop. 

 Tn such cases they seek not to shun the butcher of 

 their kind, but following him in each gyration he 

 makes, afford him no opportunity of attack, and 

 soon tire him out. I was called away from my 

 musing occupation by Moosa, who came with a 

 great deal of mystery to inform me of something 

 that he was not quite able to tell me, but on 

 returning with him to the camp, I found two boxes 



