Herring Gull 
273 
Gulls are greedy creatures. No sooner will 
one member of a flock swoop down upon a 
morsel of food, than a horde of hungry com- 
panions, in hot pursuit, chase after him to try 
to frighten him into dropping his dinner. With 
a harsh, laughing cry, akak, kak, akak, kak, kak, 
they wheel and float about a feeding grotmd 
for hours at a time. 
And they fly incredibly far and fast. A 
flock that has followed an ocean greyhound all 
day will settle down to sleep at night “bedded” 
on the rolling water like ducks while “rocked 
in the cradle of the deep.” After a rest that 
may last till dawn, they rise refreshed, fly in 
the direction of the vanished steamer and 
actually overtake it with apparent ease in time 
to pick up the scraps from the breakfast table. 
Reliable sailors say the same birds follow a ship 
from our shores all the way across the Atlantic. 
