British Birds in Their Haunts

by C. A. Johns

Gulls are, moreover, of material service, for they perform for the surface of the sea the same office which crustaceous animals do for its depths. Most of their time is spent in either flying or swimming about (they are no divers) in quest of food, which is of that nature that, if suffered to accumulate, more than one of our senses would be offended. All animal matter which, when life is extinct, rises to the surface, it is their especial province to clear away. To perform this necessary work, they have need of a quick eye and a voracious appetite. That they have the former in an eminent degree, any one may convince himself who, when taking a sea voyage, sees the vessel followed, as he often will, by a flock of Gulls. Let him fling overboard, into the foaming track of the ship, where his own eye can distinguish nothing, ever so small a portion of bread or other kind of food. That some one individual at least among the flock will have seen it fall and be able to descry it is certain; now, probably, a general scramble will ensue, and the prize will be secured by the swiftest. Having tried this several times with the same result, let him throw over, instead of meat or bread, a bit of wood. Not a bird will come near even to examine it. I have often tried this experiment, and have met with but one result. To prove that the Gull is capable of consuming a large quantity of food, as well as quick-sighted, a single anecdote will suffice:—"A man who was shooting on the banks of the river Yare, seeing something, which had the appearance of an eel half-swallowed, hanging from the mouth of a Gull which was flying overhead, fired at the bird, and on taking it up, found, not an eel, but—five tallow candles attached to a piece of thread, to the other end of which was fastened a sixth, the latter having been almost entirely swallowed. The candles were about twelve inches in length, with cotton wicks, such as are used on board the fishing boats, from the deck of which he had probably taken them". The Gull, then, is not choice in its diet; it is, in fact, omnivorous. It skims the deep for dead animal matter, follows the ship for offal thrown overboard, paces the shore in quest of molluscs and marine insects, flies inland in stormy weather (a specimen was once brought me which had been shot in Hertfordshire, twenty miles from the nearest navigable river) in winter and spring, and follows the plough along with Rooks and Jackdaws, alights on fields which have been manured with decomposed fish, resorts to marshes for frogs and worms, and after an inundation repairs to the lately submersed ground, and picks up the small quadrupeds which have been drowned. It usually flies at no great elevation above the water, but when repairing inland and returning it frequently rises to a very great height.

THE HERRING GULL
LARUS ARGENTÁTUS

Head and neck white, streaked in summer with light brown; tail and lower parts white; back and wings bluish ash; primaries dusky, passing into black, the shafts black and extremities white; secondaries edged and tipped with white; bill, orbits, and irides, yellow; feet flesh-colour. In young birds the white is mostly replaced by dark grey, mottled with brown; wings and tail brown, the latter reddish yellow towards the end; bill dusky; irides, orbits, and feet, brown. Length twenty-three inches. Eggs olive-brown, spotted with dark brown and dusky.

If, among a flock of Common Gulls, seen either following a vessel at sea or attending on the movements of a shoal of fish, one be observed which greatly surpasses the rest in size, it will probably be this species, provided that it have a grey and not a black back. In the latter case it may either be the Great or Lesser Black-Backed Gull.

The Herring Gull is a large and powerful bird, thoroughly competent to dispose of a herring or even a more bulky fish. It is common on most parts of the British coast, and remains with us all the year, building its nest on steep cliffs, or rocky islands. In the south of England it is very abundant, and is more frequently seen inland, in newly-ploughed fields, than any other species. Like the other Gulls, it may easily be tamed if taken young; and, when kept in a garden, earns its maintenance by keeping down slugs and other vermin.

THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL
LARUS FUSCUS

Wings reaching two inches beyond the tail; head and neck white, streaked (in winter) with brown; lower parts pure white; rest of the upper plumage blackish grey; primaries black, the first two with an oval white spot near the tip; secondaries and scapulars tipped with white; bill, irides, and feet, yellow; tarsus two and a quarter inches long; orbits red. In young birds the white plumage is mostly replaced by grey mottled with brown, and the black by dusky edged with yellowish; the primaries have no white spots, and the bill is dusky. Length twenty-three inches. Eggs brownish grey, spotted with brown and black.

This is a generally diffused species, occurring in considerable numbers, not only on various parts of our coast, but in the Baltic, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the northern parts of America. It repairs in spring either to rocky islands, steep cliffs, or sometimes to inland lakes, where it builds a rather large nest of tufts of grass, and lays two or three eggs. When the young are hatched it is very impatient of having its stronghold invaded, and resents molestation by darting at the head of the intruder. The Lesser Black-Backed Gull breeds habitually on many parts of the coast, especially such as are frequented by the Herring Gull. Its food and habits are much the same as those of the Common Gull. In the South of England, the nesting-places are confined to Devon and Cornwall, but there are colonies on the Farne Islands, the Isle of Man and Wales.

THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL
LARUS MARÍNUS

Wings extending but little beyond the tail; legs pale flesh-colour. Length thirty inches; breadth about five feet nine inches. In most other respects resembling the Lesser Black-Backed Gull. Eggs stone-buff, blotched and spotted with dusky brown.