The Ring-billed Gull 



bandy mockingly while we are taking our Christmas dip in the surf. 

 Winter or summer, it is all the same to us. But ornithologically speaking, 

 winter has a technical, though often very elastic, sense. It may include 

 autumn and spring, though never summer. Winter, to be exact, is that 

 season, be it short or long, which migratory birds are pleased to spend in 

 the South. The Ring-billed Gulls "winter" for eight or nine months on 

 the coast of southern California from Monterey southward, and, more 

 rarely, upon the larger lakes. 



Their choice of the "wash line" is very definite. Their accepted 

 function is to inspect the offering of each last wave. And although they 

 do not fare to and fro with the agility of Sanderlings, it is your Ring- 

 bill, rather than any 

 other species of Gull, 

 who makes first discov- 

 eries, and who plays the 

 major role of scavenger, 

 in that "priest-like task 

 of pure ablution round 

 Earth's human shores." 

 And because the line of 

 contact between earth 

 and ocean is really very 

 narrow, the Ring-billed 

 Gulls are as likely to be 

 found singly, or in twos 

 and threes, as in com- 

 panies. When patrolling, 

 they march along stiffly 

 with an affected, pranc- 

 ing gait, having often 

 an appearance of haut- 

 eur, which their mild 

 eyes and timid retreats 

 belie. With one eye on 

 shoreward dangers they, 

 nevertheless, make sud- 

 den snatches at the sand, 

 resuming with a jerk an 

 exaggerated uprightness 

 which countervails the 

 lapse. Left to them- 

 selves, they will some- 



Taken in Santa Barbara 



THE OCEAN'S EDGE IS HIS DOMAIN 



PORTRAIT OF RING-BILLED GULL 



Photo by the Author 



J 4I5 



