The Western Gulls 
Taken on the S. E. Farallon Photo by the Author 
A BREEDING COLONY 
seemingly much mystified that the pronunciation 
of the sacred formula, “Open sesame,’’ had failed 
to effect the desired result. Mrs. Bailey tells ot a 
fisherman at Tillamook Bay who dug a sack of 
clams, and, not wishing to pause just then to wash 
them and stow them away in the boat, threw them 
down on shore and turned away to dig another 
sackful. When he returned he found that the busy gulls had cleaned 
out the whole pile, opening the shells and cleaning them so expertly that 
not a particle of meat was left. 
It is at the breeding season, however, that the Western Gull accom¬ 
plishes real mischief. While he effects a passable truce with his own 
kind at that season,-it is that he may the better combine with his fellows 
and terrorize all other breeding sea-birds. As an egg-thief and as a 
kidnapper of infants the Western Gull is simply incorrigible. The only 
chance which the lesser fowl, petrels and auklets, have of escaping the 
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