374 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



rising tide comes well up his odd leg ere he awakes to resume 

 his fishing. 



It is dinner-time, and the tide is at the full. The Eedshanks, 

 washed off the opposite flats, have betaken themselves to the 

 marshes ; the small birds restlessly pass and repass ; the Gulls 

 are on the wing fishing in the channel ; there are drowned mice, 

 bits of fish, and what not always borne upstream from the town. 

 The Curlews and Whimbrel are preening their feathers and 

 sleeping on the rond west of us. 



A few Eels brought to us by an old Breydoner make a by no 

 means unsavoury Sunday dinner, and the fry-pan is frizzling a 

 merry tune. The steaming coffee adds to a pleasant aroma. I 

 wanted some brother naturalist to have dropped in just then, for 

 there are enough dainties for two, and a chat with a kindred 

 spirit is refreshing. And there have been sufficient birds to be 

 seen to-day to delight a dozen. After dinner I fling myself on 

 the settles, throw a rug around me, and read myself into a 

 refreshing sleep. I am like the Heron ; I have my fill and take 

 a nap. 



When I awoke the tide had fallen, and the flats had again 

 become bare, and a host of various Gulls were scattered all 

 around, some asleep, some arranging their dainty plumage, 

 and a few strolling about snatching up something towards a 

 supper. 



I had flung out a few minutes since some Eel-bones, a couple 

 of small dead Eels, and an opened bloater which had become 

 tainted. I knew if the Gulls did not find them the Crabs most 

 certainly would. I was scribbling these notes, when suddenly a 

 beautiful adult Common Gull wheeled round, pounced on one of 

 the sections of an Eel, and bolted it. He next snatched hold of 

 the bloater by the tail, when he was " flown at" by a couple of 

 Black-headed Gulls. They all "spotted" me simultaneously, for 

 I was writing not half a dozen yards away, with my face to the 

 open doors. Down dropped the bloater, and a few yards beyond 

 dropped the Gulls ; one of the six Black-heads — for there were by 

 this time gathered half a dozen— had a mouse-grey hood split on 



