248 HERRING GULL 
thoroughly drenched, and seem with difficulty to regain 
the shore. 
In a nest on the Calf in 1901 were a few mangled 
beetles (Carabus nemoralis, Parynotus elevatus), and in 
others some small worms, evidently intended for the first 
food of the young. (Graves and Ralfe, Zool., 1901, p. 471.) 
In hard winters, Herring Gulls gather in great. numbers 
to feed on the refuse of towns, or to avail themselves of 
food cast out to them by sympathisers. This was particu- 
larly the case in the early months of 1895, when a noisy 
throng of this species and the ‘Black’-headed Gull came 
day by day to be fed in the Woodburn district of Douglas. 
In such weather, middens and the premises of farms are 
frequented, and in spring time all over the island, the great 
grey birds flock after the ploughman with eager familiarity— 
a beautiful and characteristic sight of our island. Doubt- 
less it is thus of great use in destroying grubs of injurious 
insects, but it also takes much newly sown grain, as may 
be seen by observation at its nesting and roosting places. 
Mr. Graves has seen in such a place a pellet containing one 
hundred and forty-four grains of barley, oats, and wheat, 
practically unaffected by the bird’s digestive organs, and in 
addition a quantity of husks of oats; and he notes that this 
seems to suggest that grain is not a natural food to the 
Gull. The Herring Gull frequently alights on walls and 
the chimneys of houses, especially in towns; in Castletown 
it may daily be seen on the battlements of Castle — 
and the tower of St. Mary’s.’ 
The splendid flight of the Herring Gull, well contrasted. 
with the more active though less stately performance of the 
smaller species, may be witnessed to perfection about our 
towns. Thus, in the great storm of 13th January 1895, 
1 Mr. Roeder says that in Manx weather-lore, a Gull alighting on the chimney 
of a house betokens stormy weather at hand. (Manz Notes and Queries, p. 32.) 
