THE GULL. 
853 
All the different species—’cute, lively, active, and 
mobile, as they are—are gregarious, despite their greedi¬ 
ness, jealousy, and envy. The manner in which they 
obtain their food is common to all, and seems especially 
calculated to keep them together; but greed and envy 
are so indelibly impressed on their character that all 
feelings of friendship are entirely disregarded when the 
two first-named vices make themselves apparent. 
Gulls feed on almost everything, though mostly on 
living creatures, such as are thrown up by the sea or are 
caught by them; still, at the same time, the products of 
terra firma also pay toll. They devour the refuse thrown 
from on board ship; and, where they live on intimate 
terms with man, that of the kitchen is also laid under 
contribution: they feed besides on mollusks, Crustacea, 
fish, and carrion. Gulls assemble in hundreds round 
the carcase of a whale, or any other large animal; they 
run about the fields like Rooks, busying themselves with 
the capture of insects, slugs, and worms. Flying low 
over the surface of the water they are ever on the watch, 
and if they espy anything eatable they dart rapidly down 
after it, describe a beautiful arc, and skimming lightly 
over the waves seize upon the coveted morsel, without 
actually touching the surface. Shell-fish are carried 
high up in the air and allowed to fall on the rocks 
beneath, by which means they are smashed, and their 
contents exposed to view. Gulls swallow everything in 
large pieces; for instance, shell-fish are swallowed shell 
and all, the pieces of shell assisting the operation of 
digestion. They do not spare birds or mammals that 
may he weaker than themselves, and sometimes mice are 
devoured when opportunity offers : these are swallowed 
with fur or feathers, as the case may be. In spite of 
