ORNITHOLOGICAL WAR-NOTES. ■ 95 



to them, and their agility of seizure and exploitation much 

 interested and entertained the onlookers. That a Gull can go 

 days without food I am assured ; a gunner brought to me a 

 grand-plumaged old Greater Black-backed Gull from Breydon ; 

 evidently he had given it a " body shot," but as it appeared to 

 promise it, I gave it a chance of recovery. For over a week he 

 looked at, but entirely refused, every tempting morsel — sliced 

 Herring, milt, &c, contenting himself with a sip now and then 

 at the tank in my small aviary. On the seventh day I found 

 him dead. It may seem to have been a cruel experiment, but I 

 did my best for him. 



The small Gulls (Common and Blackheads) very speedily 

 gave up the contest on the foreshore, the former going away 

 altogether, the latter haunting the river, where scraps from the 

 drains and from various vessels were thrown overboard. Later 

 on, when the fishing had come to an end, and the marshes 

 stretching from Yarmouth to Norwich, and Beccles and the 

 Broadlands, became considerably flooded, owing to continuous 

 rains, the Gulls spread themselves- around for many miles, the 

 larger ones undoubtedly in quest of drowned-out Field Mice and 

 Water Voles ; and the smaller ones in search of the plentiful 

 supplies of Earthworms and larvae (that of the Tipula, in parti- 

 cular), which kept them going some time. The Lapwings from 

 the uplands and further northward also joined them in their 

 search for the smaller prey. I may venture, I think, to prophesy 

 a scarcity of that grass pest, the " leather-jacket " {Tipula larva) 

 during the coming months. Of late the larger Gulls have 

 become scarce, their instincts, and, mayhap, memories having 

 taken them northward again to wait on the Scotch Herring 

 fishers ; and may they fall on better days ! 



I might here add that at about Christmas time a number of 

 large Gulls discovered a big deposit of " salt and scales " (a 

 valuable waste product bought up by manure merchants, which 

 are the sweepings from the herring-boats and fish-houses) that 

 also contained broken Herrings and entrails, and they speedily 

 made inroads upon the heaps. It was only by the flinging over 

 of a foot-deep layer of more salt that the birds were kept off; 

 even then I observed here and there, as did the owner, a gap 

 made by hungry birds, and the fish-refuse got at. To me it is 



