350 
LARIDiE. 
and Prance. What he says of both species in those countries 
applies to them generally in Ireland. 
This gull is much seen about estuary rivers, and we are more 
certain of having an opportunity of observing it when the tide is 
flowing or full about the bridge spanning the river Lagan, at Bel- 
fast, than anywhere in the neighbourhood. To witness them feeding 
here is" a very pleasing sight, and many a passer-by pauses to admire 
them. Their flight is so much lower and nearer to persons pass- 
ing over the bridge on Sundays than at other times, in consequence 
I have no doubt of the greater quiet of the day and absence of 
all bustle, that it is often remarked, “ they know well when Sunday 
comes/' 7 it being imagined that they are aware they will not be 
fired at on that day. They are here at all seasons, but in the 
height of summer very few are seen. Once, on the 22nd of May, 
I noted twenty flying about the bridge, but all of them were 
immature. Owing to the absence of gulls generally from the ad- 
joining bay in the breeding season, it is deficient in one of the 
finest elements of life and beauty, and at low water, with the vast 
extent of banks exposed, appears comparatively a dreary blank. 
Along an extent of miles we now see but a few individuals, 
not more than a unit for a hundred in the winter season. Some 
fowlers have observed, that the only birds always to be seen here 
are a few gulls, curlews, ring-plover, and dunlins : most of the 
other species being entirely absent until the time of their return 
from breeding. Indeed, though the bird is out of view and far 
distant from us at the edge of the channel during extreme low 
water, we may daily hear the sharp clear cackle of the young 
herring-gull, which sometimes rings acutely on the ear, the same 
note being often repeated about a dozen times. It is almost in- 
variably answered by another bird, and often from a distance of 
between one and two miles ; both birds are rarely visible at the 
same time. 
That common gulls often retire to a distance inland from the 
sea is well known. Sir Humphrey Davy remarks upon the sub- 
ject : — “ I believe that the reason of this migration of sea-gulls, 
and other sea-birds to the land, is their security of finding food. 
