250 OK THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF 
Manners.— ^The gulls are in general voracious, noisy and 
timid birds, which seek their subsistence along the shores 
or on the surface of the sea. They are incapable of diving, 
although they swim with ease ; and their appearance upon 
the water is much more elegant than on shore, owing to 
their peculiar lightness, and the superior agihty which they 
then display. They are much upon the wing ; their flight 
is strong and buoyant ; and, when flying, they utter a loud 
cry, more or less deep or shrill, according to the size^of the 
species, and divided by short intervals. In their state of 
repose, they contract the neck, and generally draw one foot 
up. They perform a singular action with their feet upon 
the sands, patting then repeatedly with considerable cele- 
rity, and at the same time retiring backwards : the object 
of this action is not well understood, though it may be pre- 
sumed to be the discovery of worms or other animals con- 
cealed in the sand. In winter they congregate in large 
flocks, at the mouths of rivers, or on the sands, as well as 
in the breeding season, when they form a more promiscuous 
assemblage. 
Food. — Their food consists of every thing indiscriminate- 
ly that they can obtain, without the exercise of courage or 
address, from the flesh of dead cetacea to the smallest worm. 
They break open the shells of crabs with their beaks, and 
those of cockles, by letting them fall from a sufficient height 
in the air. As they do not swim, their mode of catching 
fishes is by darting upon them as they approach the sur- 
face ; for this purpose they pursue the shoals of herrings 
and sand-eels {Ammodytes Tobianus) ; but their usual sup- 
ply of fish is derived from those which are casually thrown 
upon the beach. Young birds also fall a prey to the larger 
species. In stormy weather gulls sometimes leave their 
ordinary haunt^^ and proceed inland, especially in spring- 
