578 Birds. 



object of their pursuit. In parties of about the numbers above specified, I noticed 

 them hovering over the rich meadows and pasture lands adjoining the river Wyre, and 

 also occasionally quartering the fields in search of the moths, as carefully and assidu- 

 ously as the best-trained pointers would do when in search of game. I beg, however, 

 to add, that I by no means affirm that these moths are the only objects of pursuit to 

 the black-headed gulls in the evening ; still, in this district, I hesitate not a moment 

 to say that they are their chief prey, as twilight approaches, for I have repeatedly shot 

 these birds at a late hour, when in pursuit of these moths, and have found their pouch- 

 es crammed with them ; and so convinced am I of their predilection for this food, that 

 in my diary I have given this gull the name of the " Moth-catcher." — J. D. Banister ; 

 Pilling, Lancashire, January 11, 1844. 



Note on Instinct in wild Web-footed Birds. There is a striking peculiarity in some 

 of the web-footed birds, which, as I have never seen particularly recorded, I beg leave 

 to send for insertion in your valuable journal ; I allude to a habit, whilst in search of 

 food, of dancing or trampling rapidly on the sands when the water covers their sur- 

 face, and more particularly at the edge of the ebbing or flowing wave, where myriads 

 of little marine insects are seen sporting and leaping, as if exulting in happiness at 

 the return of the element in which they exist, and whose approach they seem thus in- 

 stinctively to welcome. For immediately on the water overflowing their holes, they 

 appear to receive it with delight, and then sink to the bottom of their homes. Now the 

 above-mentioned action of the bird is evidently for the purpose of raising this species 

 of their food to the surface of the water, by thus sucking them from the sand or mud 

 in which they lie imbedded. Let me also remark, that whilst employed in this singu- 

 lar mode of taking its prey, the Piscator always appears to be most vigilant, for no 

 sooner does any kind of food present itself on the surface of the bubbling waters, than 

 at once it is detected by its watchful eye, and secured as its prey. To this I may like- 

 wise add that the bird not merely tramples and loosens the sands, but has the art also 

 with its broad webbed feet to force the water to boil up briskly around it, so that, by 

 this means, much latent food is dislodged, thus amply repaying the fisher for his trou- 

 ble, assiduity and perseverance. It is also worthy of notice, that in this act of tram- 

 pling rapidly on the sands, the bird, as it moves its body, generally makes a semicircle, 

 seldom however, as far as my observation goes, forming an entire one. And does it not 

 thus act that it may more easily observe the approach of an enemy? — as from what- 

 ever quarter danger presents itself, the bird is alert, and can escape the threatened 

 attack. Various kinds of wild ducks may frequently be seen at a distance on our ex- 

 tensive sands labouring in this manner for their daily food, as also the "wild sea mew.*' 

 I have noticed a shieldrake, not more than a week old, which was hatched and reared 

 by a hen, practising this habit. In this last-recorded instance there was therefore an 

 effort for a livelihood prior to any parental instruction, for the hen, the foster parent, 

 would not, neither indeed could she, after this manner teach her young brood. I have 

 also noticed the same in the young of the black-headed and black-backed gulls, which 

 had been separated from their parents before they could possibly have an opportunity 

 of observing their seniors labouring thus for subsistence. This act then of trampling 

 rapidly on the sands or mud when just covered with water, by such young inexperi- 

 enced birds, must be instinct, and seems exactly to agree with Dr. Paley's definition 

 of that faculty, that it is prior to experience and independent of instruction. 



" Equidem credo quia sit divinitus illis 



Ingenium." — Virg. Georg. lib. i. tin. 415. — Id. May 9, 1844. 



