Cambridge, Mass.
1899
Nov. 29
(No 2)
breasting the wind and rising and falling with the
waves after the wind had roughened the pond. Once there
was a sudden and to me quite mysterious alarm
when the bulk of the flock started and circled about
a few times before realighting but with this exception
the Gulls remained very quiet during the time I was
watching them. As far as I could make out they
were not getting or even looking for food while in the
water and none of them flew about in search of it
although they used to do so years ago when there
were alewives in fresh Pond. I saw a young bird
do a very singular thing. It rolled over squarely on 
its back in the water and floated there for half-a-minute
or more paddling the air with its feet precisely after
the manner of a dying Duck that has fallen or 
turned over on its back in the water. This performance
was repeated several times.
[margin]Herring Gulls
in Fresh Pond[/margin]
  I also repeatedly saw Herring Gulls start and fly
for a few yards and then suddenly pitch down
on their sides with stiffly extended wings making
the water fly as they struck the surface and
sometimes sinking nearly out of sight. Occasionally
several would do this in quick succession one
following the other.
  Lothrop tells me that there are never many Gulls
in the pond when the weather is cold and
blustery and that the calmer and milder
the day the greater the number assembled
there. This is confirmed by my own observations
in this and former years. We have both noticed also
that all the Gulls leave the pond before dark each night.
186