42 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
fish being sometimes completely macer¬ 
ated in digestion, while the tail is still 
almost responsive to touch. 
1 hitcher and Bailey, noted above, 
pages 423-4, give the analysis of the 
stomachs of five young gulls in Maine, 
as determined by the Biological Survey 
at Washington, showing that the mother 
birds fed the young gulls many insects, 
including May Beetles and Blow-flies, 
together with squids and some fish. In 
most eases, the stomachs tested for 
100% animal matter. I do not know 
what other records may exist in MSS. 
in the Biological Survey or in bird 
journals, but Director Henry L. Ward 
of the Public Museum, Milwaukee, 
whose interesting paper, “Notes on the 
Ilerring-Gull and the Caspian Tern” 
(October, 1906, Bulletin of the Wiscon¬ 
sin Natural History Society, sold at the 
Milwaukee Public Museum), is the first 
scientific account of our Wisconsin col¬ 
onies, councils caution for fear af arriv¬ 
ing at premature conclusions on the 
food habits of the gull near its breeding 
haunts. 
While the above reference goes to 
show that the bird catches live fish 
swimming in schools, dives for fish, and 
pieces out its meals with insects, the 
opinion of fishermen whose boats the 
gull follows for refuse, is that the gull 
is such a blessing as a scavenger that 
its tithe in live fish is negligible. The 
bulk of the literature about sea-gulls 
emphasizes the gull’s activity as a coas¬ 
tal health patrol, cleaning up decaying 
matter and insects so that it would 
seem that we could dismiss the possi¬ 
bility of its parasitism on the fishing 
interests as a mirror point in its life 
history. 
Moreover, this usefulness as a scav¬ 
enger extends over many years. The 
life of the gull as worked out in the 
history of the tame, wild gull “Dick”,I 
who came, back every season to be fed 
by the sailors on the Brenton Reef I 
Light-ship off Newport, R. I., (given 
in McKay’s account, pages 227-8, and 
later in ‘‘The Auk”, n. s., Vo 1. 10, pp. 
76; Vol. 11, pp. 73; Yol. 20, pp. 417 
431), shows that the bird may live 24 
seasons and thus, under protection, 
should yield a long life of economic use 
to the human race’. What a contrast, 
then, where 1 hitcher gives us data about 
the gulls along the cost of Maine, 
slaughtered for milinery in 1899-1900 
when 10,000 were shot and were paid for 
by the milliners at fou r to twelve dollars 
a dozen. (AY. Dutcher and T. S. Pal¬ 
mer, “Results of Special Protection to 
Gulls and Terns Obtained Through the 
Thayer Fund”, “The Auk”, n. AMI. 
18 , pp. 76-104; Yol. 19, pp. 34-64.) 
Can such destruction measure our ap¬ 
preciation for useful birds? Fortu¬ 
nately, laws now generally protect this 
bird from slaughter. Some states are 
making good headway in gull conserva¬ 
tion. 
In Maine there are now protected 
many colonies ranging in population 
all the way from two to three thousand 
gulls down to small colonies of twenty- 
five pairs or so. Here the breeding 
would seem to begin about the same 
time as Mr. Braun writes of the Wis¬ 
consin gulls, the date being March 27th 
for Maine, and egg-laving May 27th. 
I lie attention now focused on the breed¬ 
ing grounds brings out further facts 
about the ills following in the wake of 
our neglect of them. AVliere the gulls 
have been badly disturbed by hunters 
at the breeding grounds as on Heron 
