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every transitional state of plumage from the dappled-grey “ koiro ” to the sharply contrasted black- 
and-vphite dress of maturity, and they present on these occasions a very pretty and ever-varying picture 
of bird-life on the wave. 
The several species of Gull hover together promiscuously, and apparently on terms of perfect amity, 
although I have occasionally seen the larger species pursuing and persecuting its weaker congeners. 
It is interesting to observe the extreme buoyancy of this bird on the water. It springs into the 
air and then downwards, head foremost, having apparently great difficulty in submerging the body at all. 
When riding by moonlight along the sandy beaches I have often disturbed the sleeping Sea-Gull. 
It would always rise in the air without uttering a sound, wheel round overhead in a wide circle, and 
then alight again on the sands near the water’s edge. 
During very stormy weather it often travels some miles inland ; and at the breeding-season it 
occasionally penetrates far up the river-courses in search of a secure nesting-place. It also frequents 
the pastures at a distance from the coast in quest of food, doing good service to the farmer by its large 
consumption of caterpillars and other insect pests. On the plains near Waitaki South I saw in the 
month of April a flock of these birds numbering, I should say, at least a thousand individuals, and 
nearly the whole of them in the adult plumage. Further on, near the banks of the river, I saw 
another flock of about four hundred *. To the agriculturist these birds, coming in such numbers and 
preying upon insect-life, must prove of incalculable service. It is said that on the sheep-farms they 
are destructive to the young lambs. This is quite possible, although I think it more likely that they 
confine their attention to the dead or dying ; and the latter would undoubtedly be attacked by 
having their eyes torn out, because that is the habit of this bird. 
It likewise frequents the mouths of all our tidal rivers. Near the outlet of the Whangarei there 
are extensive mangrove-flats which look dreary enough when the tide is out, but have a very pretty 
effect when the sea is at the full, the pale green tops of the bushes resting on the surface, with 
occasional spaces of open water. On the last occasion of my seeing this it was a bright summer’s day 
with the water placid as a mirror, and the picturesque effect was greatly heightened by a flock of these 
Gulls, some of them playing joyously on the surface of the water, others resting on the floating mangrove 
tops, their white plumage showing conspicuously against the light green surroundings. In the distance 
beyond there was a high fern-ridge with a few clumps of bush in the hollows, and away to the right 
a lovely grove of young puriri (Vitex Uttm'alis), the dark hue relieved by an edging of tree ferns, with 
their star-like crowns of soft pale green. I could not help thinking, as I watched the playful evolutions 
of these holiday-making Sea-Gulls, that the scene was in every respect very different to the stormy 
ones on the ocean wave with which these birds are so familiar and amidst which they spend so much 
of their existence. 
On the sea-shore it subsists chiefly on a species of bivalve, and displays much ingenuity in 
breaking the hard shell to get at the contents : seizing it between its powerful mandibles, it runs a few 
steps, then spreads its wings, and mounts in the air to a height of thirty feet or more, when it lets the 
bivalve drop on the hard sandy beach, and descends to pick out the mollusk from the broken fragments. 
Should the first attempt to break the shell by this means prove a failure, the bird repeats the operation ; 
and I once witnessed nine successive attempts before the firm shell yielded. On riding up to the spot, 
I found that the shell was of unusual thickness, and measured more than two inches across the surface. 
Small Crustacea, sandhoppers, dead fish, and carrion of all kinds are also laid under contribution as 
this Gull is both omnivorous and voracious. It will also, when opportunity offers, capture live fish. I 
saw one very cleverly secure in shallow water a flounder about the size of one’s hand. The bird 
* Mr. Cheeseman informs me that in January, 1883, when crossing the mountains from Hokitika to Christchurch he observed 
near Lake Pearson, a large number of these Gulls feeding amongst the tussock-grass. On watching them with a pocket-glass he' 
made out that they were catching the large grasshoppers which were very plentiful there. 
