The Bonaparte Gull 
Taken in Santa Barbara Photo by the Author 
FALLEN ANGELS 
ATTENDANTS ON THE OUTFALL SEWER 
portraits (more or less extensive “according to style and binding”), and 
confesses that he knows nothing more about the Bonaparte Gull than 
he did fourteen years ago when the following lines were penned: 
A more peaceful scene could scarcely be conjured up by the imag¬ 
ination than that of a company of Bonaparte Gulls resting at high tide. 
Some sixty of them sit before me now on a miniature boom of radiating 
logs, and I am spying on them from the shelter of a deserted cannery. 
The windward logs break the force of the tiny waves which are running 
before a gentle breeze, and provide an oasis of calm. In this glassy space 
a few birds, mostly late comers, are bathing and otherwise disporting 
themselves; but most of the company sit placidly upon the logs in dainty 
rows, or doze with head tucked under wing. A few terns, hardly distin¬ 
guishable at this distance from their square-tailed kinsmen, are allowed to 
share this haven of refuge, and no distinctions of courtesy are made. Now 
and then there is a little jostling, as some newcomer, fresh from his bath, 
demands admission to the ranks, and a squabble in low-pitched tones, 
not unlike the grunting of little pigs, ensues; but the difficulty is soon 
adjusted and peace reigns supreme. 
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