Larus a. smithsonianus . 
I Lake Urabagog, Maine. Trying to fish. v-' 
j 
1897. Long after sunset this evening a Herring Gull came fly- 
June 10. ing about our vessel (off Great Island) attracted by some 
schools of small fish which were ruffling the otherwise glassy 
surface of the Lake as if a light breeze had struck it. The 
Gull would make straight for one of these spots flying swift¬ 
ly a yard or two above the surface and plumping down heavily 
and, as it seemed to us, most clumsily into the middle of the 
school causing the fish to jump into the air by dozens all a- 
round him but never succeeding in catching any of them al¬ 
though he tried again and again. He would sometimes thrust 
his head and neck under water but never his body. I cannot 
understand how any bird could expect to catch fish in this m 
manner. A man might as well attempt'/ apparently, by jumping 
into the water and thrusting down his head. 
( 
