The Glaucous-winged Gull 



Taken in Seattle 



us to visions of the limpid 

 ocean, all-powerful and 

 all-purifying. 



To and fro, forward 

 and back, in and out, 

 up, down, and around, 

 moves the restless multi- 

 tude when the hungry 

 mood is on, — a twirling 

 kaleidoscope of action. 

 And, while the gulls are 

 no songsters, not the 

 least of their charm lies 

 in the manifold cries, in 

 the trumpet calls and 

 croaks, in the barks and 

 screams, with which the 

 birds mark the progress 

 of their quest. And when 

 a treasure of floating bis- 

 cuits is discovered, how 

 the screams rise to a 

 grand medley of stridor, 

 fierce, exultant, like the triumph of Tritons over smitten reefs! 



Truth to tell, we owe the continued presence of our thousands of sea- 

 gulls through the winter chiefly to the activities of our fish markets and 

 our packing houses, and to the fact that the city's garbage is dumped 

 daily at the advancing edge of the tide lands. At the dumping grounds 

 the arrival of each loaded scow, in charge of Antonio or Pietro, is greeted 

 with a double Chautauqua salute of fluttering wings, and hoarse huzzas 

 besides. Pandemonium reigns until the tide has divided the spoil, and 

 these children of the second table have all been fed. 



Toward noontide, when the garbage gatherers have given over their 

 task, the birds retire according to their kind, to foregather with their 

 fellows for the midday siesta, which is an essential part of every well- 

 regulated bird-day. The Mews assemble on the water in some open space 

 and ride at anchor, or else rehearse in gabbling, duck-like tones the memo- 

 ries of Alaska. The Glaucous-wings, with their cousins, the Westerns and 

 the Herrings, line the railings in solemn rows, or else betake themselves 

 to some retreat of inaccessible piling. Here, each on a pillar like St. 

 Simeon Stylites, they ruminate and slumber till the pangs of returning 

 hunger impel them once again to action. The California Gulls prefer to 



Photo by the A uthor 



YOUNG BURGOMASTERS 



I370 



