The Ring-billed Gull 
bandy mockingly while we are taking our Christmas dip in the surf. 
Winter or summer, it is all the same to us. But ornithologically speaking, 
winter has a technical, though often very elastic, sense. It may include 
autumn and spring, though never summer. Winter, to be exact, is that 
season, be it short or long, which migratory birds are pleased to spend in 
the South. The Ring-billed Gulls “winter” for eight or nine months on 
the coast of southern California from Monterey southward, and, more 
rarely, upon the larger lakes. 
Their choice of the “wash line” is very definite. Their accepted 
function is to inspect the offering of each last wave. And although they 
do not fare to and fro with the agility of Sanderlings, it is your Ring- 
bill, rather than any 
other species of G u- 11 , 
who makes first discov¬ 
eries, and who plays the 
major role of scavenger, 
in that “priest-like task 
of pure ablution round 
Earth's human shores.” 
And because the line of 
contact between earth 
and ocean is really very 
narrow, the Ring-billed 
Gulls are as likely to be 
found singly, or in twos 
and threes, as in com¬ 
panies. When patrolling, 
they march along stiffly 
with an affected, pranc¬ 
ing gait, having often 
an appearance of haut¬ 
eur, which their mild 
eyes and timid retreats 
belie. With one eye on 
shoreward dangers they, 
nevertheless, make sud¬ 
den snatches at the sand, 
resuming with a jerk an 
exaggerated uprightness 
which countervails the 
lapse. Left to them¬ 
selves, they will some- 
Taken in Santa Barbara 
THE OCEAN’S EDGE IS HIS DOMAIN 
PORTRAIT OF RING-BILLED GULL 
Photo by the Author 
W'5 
