May, 1916 
A POPULOUS SHORE 
105 
tail, and dark slaty mantle, were a great satisfaction in the confusion of dingy 
mottled ones ; but the adults were seen mainly about the piers. 
Five small Bonaparte Gulls with the black spot behind the ear were about 
the beach, exquisite creatures that for some reason made me think of gentle 
pigeons. As they hovered on spread wings, the black shoulder bars and tail- 
band of their immature plumage contrasting with their pure white bodies 
marked them handsomely. Quick of wing, one of these small Gulls hovered 
over a Godwit that had food in its bill, turning easily as the Godwit turned, 
till the distracted bird bethought him to swallow his catch. A Bonaparte at 
another time chased after a Sanderling, but although the small boy with the 
raft said “the Gulls get too lazy”, I never saw them succeed in getting any- 
thing away from another bird, and rather suspected that they chased the 
small Sandpipers just to see them run ! 
While the young white Gulls of various species sat around the beach with 
the waders, large dark Heermann Gulls with red bills frequently passed over- 
head on their way to the pier, at the end of which they would be seen sitting 
on the water. Long brown streamers of kelp floated close under the surface 
here, and fifteen of the Gulls were counted in one place probably feeding on 
something in the kelp. They were often seen standing on the railing of the 
pier, some of them getting an insecure footing on the electric light globes, 
while a few of the beautiful white Western Gulls perched on the electric light 
poles and also on top of a tower. When a school of porpoises passed near the 
pier, their fins showing as they rolled up above the surface, the Gulls were 
apparently indifferent ; but at Catalina Island when a sea lion had a meal the 
Western Gulls followed him out to a distance, flying screaming over him. 
A few rods from the end of the Venice pier several Cormorants were seen 
sitting out on the ocean one morning and one flew low and evenly over the 
surface — its head and neck extended like a stick of wood — casting its shadow 
over the water. Ludicrous creatures Cormorants certainly are in all their 
ways of life. One sat on the beach pluming his feathers one morning as I 
came along, twisting his long snaky neck around so as to smooth his breast 
and shoulder feathers. He would appear to be starting down the slope of 
the beach and then suddenly open his wings and hold them out as if afraid 
of falling on his bill, acting so peculiarly that I imagined that he had been 
wounded. However, when he decided to go, raising both his big paddle feet 
at once, he proceeded with high awkward hops down the shore. When he 
finally got to the surf he let it wash him out and in once or twice, looking so 
helpless that I was sure he must have been wounded. He also rode through 
the breaking surf, his body down under the foam, his head held high, clear 
of it. When thoroughly soused he let the waves wash him in again, and 
came walking laboriously back up the beach, slim and dripping, his bedraggled 
tail trailing over the sand. Apparently he had been taking a bath ! After 
oiling his feathers he swam out and dived, staying under so long and swim- 
ming out so far that he showed his full aquatic power. When he was in the 
rollers and saw a foaming breaker coming he would bend over, disappearing 
as the water splashed. When the waves had flattened he would reappear in 
the smooth water between seas. 
A tame Cormorant often seen along the beach was one of the interesting 
bird characters of Venice. One day I saw a woman walking slowly behind him 
with arms extended, driving him down to the water as if he had been a goose. 
