The Western Gulls 
responsibilities. Not one of them appeared to question for a moment 
the propriety of brooding a garish murre’s egg, and this in spite of the 
fact that every mother of them would have been keen to get a taste of 
the same egg on a murre ledge. Verily the gull is gullible! 
Unfortunately, we were obliged to leave the islands ten days later, 
and just before the gulls were due to hatch: but we had the satisfaction of 
noting that the situation in nine 
of our ten doctored nests was 
unchanged. And I have no 
doubt but that some, at least, 
of these humble changelings were 
1 eared in proper Larine magnifi¬ 
cence. 
A pleasanter aspect of gull 
life is afforded by the sight of 
the birds a-wing. In a wind, 
Taken in Santa Barbara 
Photo by the Author 
IMMATURE WESTERN GULLS 
especially, one may for¬ 
get his grudge and lose 
himself in admiration 
of the consummate skill 
and grace with which 
the birds address them¬ 
selves to the tasks of breasting the wind or coasting down the gale. 
Here is the original school of aviation—a forty-knot breeze blowing over 
“Maintop,” the western eminence of the Southeast Farallon. Here, if 
ever, one will see bizarre postures and incipient shipwreck in the air. 
The most extraordinary thing is the development of speed. Even the 
