The Ring-billed Gull 



times breast the wave with uplifted 

 wings, eager to seize the incoming 

 dainties. And if flight be necessary, 

 it is always down the beach slope 

 with a run which takes them to the 

 water's edge. In this fashion one may 

 drive a shifting company of Ring-bills 

 before him for hours, yet without 

 learning very much of their habits. 

 Proceeding once along a beach 

 road which paralleled a northern 

 inlet, as the tide neared the flood, I 

 caught sight of a newly-arrived com- 

 pany of these Gulls upon an outer 

 reef. Noting a bar midway between 

 them and the beach, to which they 

 would be likely to retire if not 

 alarmed, I stole up to a sheltered 

 spot commanding a view of the latter 

 location. Here at close range I had 

 the satisfaction of seeing the birds 

 alight gracefully one by one until a 

 company of twenty-six awaited the 

 last advances of the tide. One mem- 

 ber of the flock had his suspicions 

 of the dark object ashore, and pub- 

 lished them from time to time in 

 a high-pitched note of protest. In 

 uttering this the bird first thrust 

 his head forward with mandibles 

 far apart, and began squealing. 

 This noise he continued with in- 

 creasing volume, while throwing his head straight up, and then further, 

 like a dog baying the moon. In subsiding, he came to "position" again, 

 and ended by droning a lower and finer note, with mandibles either slightly 

 ajar or closed outright. Without further retreat the flock awaited quietly 

 the oncoming of the tide, and allowed it to lift them, like stranded boats, 

 clear of their anchorage, after which they swam slowly out to sea. 



Although rated as the "Common Gull" of the Great Lakes and the 

 Atlantic seaboard, and recorded, rightly enough, as "common in winter 

 along the coast of southern California" there is a singular dearth of posi- 

 tive information regarding this prosaic bird. Its comings and goings have 



1416 



Taken in Santa Barbara Photo by the Author 



"THEY MARCH ALONG STIFFLY" 



