The Bonaparte Gull 



Taken in Santa Barbara 



FALLEN ANGELS 



ATTENDANTS ON THE OUTFALL SEWER 



Photo by the A uthor 



portraits (more or less extensive "according to style and binding"), and 

 confesses that he knows nothing more about the Bonaparte Gull than 

 he did fourteen years ago when the following lines were penned : 



A more peaceful scene could scarcely be conjured up by the imag- 

 ination than that of a company of Bonaparte Gulls resting at high tide. 

 Some sixty of them sit before me now on a miniature boom of radiating 

 logs, and I am spying on them from the shelter of a deserted cannery. 

 The windward logs break the force of the tiny waves which are running 

 before a gentle breeze, and provide an oasis of calm. In this glassy space 

 a few birds, mostly late comers, are bathing and otherwise disporting 

 themselves; but most of the company sit placidly upon the logs in dainty 

 rows, or doze with head tucked under wing. A few terns, hardly distin- 

 guishable at this distance from their square-tailed kinsmen, are allowed to 

 share this haven of refuge, and no distinctions of courtesy are made. Now 

 and then there is a little jostling, as some newcomer, fresh from his bath, 

 demands admission to the ranks, and a squabble in low-pitched tones, 

 not unlike the grunting of little pigs, ensues; but the difficulty is soon 

 adjusted and peace reigns supreme. 



1424 



