Page:Bird Haunts and Nature Memories - Thomas Coward (Warne, 1922).pdf/89

 PRING is an uncertain season; it pays no attention to the calendar. The argument that spring begins in December is sound enough, for when the shortest day is behind we are on the upgrade; but a visible, even a perceptible spring is another matter.

On the last day of January, as we steamed through the Mendips, snow-clad slopes detracted from vernal aspirations, but the long-limbed, staggering lambs in the South Devon fields were a hopeful sign. Before February was a fortnight old optimistic black-headed gulls were wearing brown hoods, their nuptial garb, though their breeding season was not due for many weeks.

South Devon, in early spring, is favoured by gulls, black-heads, herrings, commons, and the great black-backs. At Torquay the first species has degenerated into a mendicant; it floats alongside the sea-wall to tempt the indulgent visitor to part with scraps of bread or biscuit, for this omnivorous bird appreciates wheaten flour as well as fish, whether the latter be fresh or very stale. Adaptability of the black-head in this matter of diet is an important factor in influencing its increase, for a bird which can pick up a living alike along the tide line or in a ploughed field is unlikely to starve if one source of supply is cut off. At Brixham, Beer, and other fishing ports and villages the gulls are never short of food when the boats can go out; they stand waiting when the trawls are cleaned, and are especially attentive when gutting is in process. The Devon and Cornish fishermen recognise that gulls are useful indicators of fish shoals; they give