The Western Gulls 
MUCH THAT IS GOOD and all that is evil has gathered itself up 
into the Western Gull. He is rather the handsomest of the blue-mantled 
Laridce , for the depth of color in the mantle, in sharp contrast with the 
snowy plumage of back and breast, gives him an appearance of sturdiness 
and quality which is not easily dispelled by subsequent knowledge of the 
black heart within. As a scavenger, the Western Gull is impeccable. 
Wielding the besom of hunger, he and his kind sweep the beaches clean 
and purge the water-front of all pollution. But a scavenger is not neces¬ 
sarily a good citizen. Call him a ghoul, rather, for the Western Gull is cruel 
of beak and bottomless o'f maw. Pity, with him, is a thing unknown; and 
when one of their own comrades dies, these feathered jackals fall upon 
him without compunction, a veritable Leichnamveranderungsgebrauchs- 
gesellschaft. If he thus mistreats his own kind, be assured that this gull 
Taken on the Southeast Farallon 
Photo by the Author 
THE FEAST 
THE FIRST-COMERS HAVE JUST CLEANED UP THE MURRES* EGGS FROM THIS 
COLONY, DESERTED THROUGH FRIGHT 
asks only two questions of any other living thing: First, “Am 1 hungry?” 
(Ans., “Yes.”) Second, “Can I get away with it?” (Ans., “I’ll try.”) 
The ocean, to be sure, offers the gull an abundance of “natural” food. 
Surface-ranging fish, herring, smelt, and the like, are staple objects of pur- 
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