332 MR. J. H. GURNET, JUN., ON GULLS ON THE NORFOLK COAST. 
From March to August, you may spend the -whole day on 
the sea at Cromer, and see no Gulls whatever beyond the five 
or six which are always to be found at each fishing village where 
the fishing-boats on the shore indicate that there is something 
for them to eat. That this should be so is on the whole what is to 
he expected, yet there are gales in spring as well as in autumn, 
though less frequently, and the absence of Gulls in February and 
March is rather singular ; but after that date, with the exception of 
the Black-headed, they have naturally ceased to frequent Norfolk 
shores. 
The reason Gulls hug the shore. 
Gulls hug the shore in preference to flying further out at sea, 
when by so doing they can escape some of the power of the Avind. 
Very often they may be seen so close in that a concealed gunner 
may obtain as many shots as he requires specimens. They also 
come nearer in for the sake of cutting off capes and headlands. 
At Blakeney I have observed them touch tbe land opposite 
to Cley church repeatedly and cross the harbour inside the bar, 
rejoining the sea-shore further on, thus saving several minutes, and 
what is more important to them, keeping straight against the wind. 
Kate of progress. 
A few words in conclusion with regard to their rate of progress. 
There can hardly bo a doubt that the Gulls which passed the 
“Lynn Well” in August, 1880, and December, 1881 {vide p. 328), 
had a few hours before passed the town of Cromer, Avhich is 
nearly east of the “Lynn Well,” though there is no entry in 
our Ornithological Diary of my having seen them on any particular 
day, but the regularity with which they passed during the autumn 
was noted in 1880 in the ‘ Zoologist ’ (p. 510). 
It takes Gulls about five minutes to fly a mile against a fresh 
breeze : therefore the distance between Cromer and the “ Lynn 
Well ” Avould have occupied them about three and a half hours. 
At the same rate they would pass from the English Channel to the 
“ Lynn Well ” in about fourteen hours. 
This is a rough calculation, depending of course on the force of 
the wind. Sometimes a Gull will seem to bo absolutely motionless. 
