128 BULLETIN OF WISCONSIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 4, NO. 4. 
next time that I visited the colony, three days later, I was alone. I 
beached my boat, set up my tent and entered. Six minutes later 
the first of the young reached the island, followed two minutes 
later by the settling of the first adults, some on the island at its 
most distant point, but most in the water. It was an hour and 
thirty-five minutes before any came close to the tent, and not until 
half past four the next morning, or thirteen hours after setting up 
my tent, did the first one alight on it. The gulls on this occasion 
were quite uneasy and were frequently thrown into a panic by 
their own actions. The sudden alighting of a bird, or a fight be- 
tween two, would frighten one, who, not waiting to see what was 
the trouble, would take wing, followed by one after another 
as the panic-formed wave swept over the island, leaving it 
almost bare of gulls. Fortunately they quickly recovered 
and returned, but their alertness and the frequent "wak- 
zvak, wak-wak" of their note of suspicion showed that some- 
thing bothered them. Apparently the departure of two peo- 
ple and the boat the first visit had deceived them into thinking 
that all had left the island, while on the second trip, although I 
had disappeared, yet no one had left the island, and for thirteen 
hours they remembered this and were suspicious. After the first 
gull alit on the tent they abandoned their suspicions and were as 
familiar with it as on the previous day. 
Regarding the general intelligence of this bird the following 
from Audubon is pertinent : "They also take up shells in the air, 
and drop them on the rocks to break them. We saw one that had 
met with a very hard mussel, take it up and drop it three times 
in succession, before it succeeded in breaking it, and I was much 
pleased to see the bird let it fall each succeeding time from a 
greater height than before." Mackay states : "I have seen them 
carry up the same clam four times when it failed to break on 
account of insufficient height ; but they will carry them up higher 
after several ineffectual attempts and thus obtain the desired re- 
sult ; they also carry up scallops (Pecten concentricus) and mus- 
sels (Modiola modiolus) ." 
When I first established myself in the colony I fancied that I 
must keep very quiet in order not to acquaint the gulls with my 
presence, and consequently took much pains not to rattle the 
stones under foot as I moved about within the tent. 
