late Professor Macgillivray. 201 



to the wind, like a fleet of merchantmen at anchor, secured 

 from the attacks of pirates by the presence of their gallant 

 convoy. If in mere wantonness you discharge your artillery, 

 sending a bullet skipping among the flock, they hurriedly 

 rise on the wing, fill the air with their cries, and wheel 

 around at a safe distance, while the Black-backed Gull, dis- 

 daining to mingle with the clamorous crowd, after a few 

 wide circlings flies off seaward, and is soon out of sight." 

 * - * * * « Yigi] an t and suspicious, it is not easily ap- 

 proached at any season, it being of all our gulls that which 

 forms the most correct estimate of the destructive powers 

 and propensities of man. Chief of its tribe and tyrant of the 

 seas, it evinces a haughty superiority which none of our 

 aquatic species seem inclined to dispute. Little disposed to 

 associate with its inferiors, it passes its leisure hours or 

 periods of repose, on unfrequented parts of the sand, or 

 on shoals or islets, often on the bosom of the sea, just be- 

 hind the breakers, where it floats lightly on the waves, pre- 

 senting a beautiful appearance as it rises and falls on the 

 ever-varying surface. In winter it is scarcely gregarious, 

 more than a few individuals being seldom seen together ; but 

 when there are shoals of fish in the bays or creeks, it 

 mingles with the other gulls, from which it is always easily 

 distinguished by its superior size and very loud clear cry, 

 which may be heard in calm weather at the distance of a 

 mile. Frequently, when flying, it emits also a loud rather 

 hoarse cackle, having affinity in sound, although not analo- 

 gous in nature, to a human laugh. All the larger gulls are 

 in one sense laughter-loving birds ; but if we take note of 

 the occasions when their cachinnations are edited, we discover 

 that so far from being the expressions of unusual mirth, they 

 are employed to express anxiety, alarm, anger, and revenge. 

 Its flight is strong, ordinarily sedate, less wavering and 

 buoyant than that of smaller species, but graceful, effective, 

 and even majestic. There, running a few steps, and flap- 

 ping its long wings, it springs into the air, wheels to either 

 side, ascends, and on outspread and beautifully-curved pin- 

 ions, hies away to some distant place. In advancing against 

 a strong breeze, it sometimes proceeds straight forward, 



