The Ring-billed Gull 
times breast the wave with uplifted 
wings, eager to seize the incoming 
dainties. And if flight be necessary, 
it is always down the beach slope 
with a run which takes them to the 
water’s edge. In this fashion one may 
drive a shifting company of Ring-bills 
before him for hours, yet without 
learning very much of their habits. 
Proceeding once along a beach 
road which paralleled a northern 
inlet, as the tide neared the flood, I 
caught sight of a newly-arrived com¬ 
pany of these Gulls upon an outer 
reef. Noting a bar midway between 
them and the beach, to which they 
would be likely to retire if not 
alarmed, I stole up to a sheltered 
spot commanding a view of the latter 
location. Here at close range I had 
the satisfaction of seeing the birds 
alight gracefully one by one until a 
company of twenty-six awaited the 
last advances of the tide. One mem¬ 
ber of the flock had his suspicions 
of the dark object ashore, and pub¬ 
lished them from time to time in 
a high-pitched note of protest. In 
uttering this the bird first thrust 
his head forward with mandibles 
far apart, and began squealing. 
This noise he continued with in¬ 
creasing volume, while throwing his head straight up, and then further, 
like a dog baying the moon. In subsiding, he came to “position” again, 
and ended by droning a lower and finer note, with mandibles either slightly 
ajar or closed outright. Without further retreat the flock awaited quietly 
the oncoming of the tide, and allowed it to lift them, like stranded boats, 
clear of their anchorage, after which they swam slowly out to sea. 
Although rated as the “Common Gull” of the Great Lakes and the 
Atlantic seaboard, and recorded, rightly enough, as “common in winter 
along the coast of southern California” there is a singular dearth of posi¬ 
tive information regarding this prosaic bird. Its comings and goings have 
Taken in Santa Barbara Photo by the Author 
“THEY MARCH ALONG STIFFLY” 
