Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/207

Rh danger of being confounded with any other. They are web-footed birds, whose home is on the waters, but not in the mild sense in which you may say the same of a Duck. For the wings of a Gull are more than its feet, and the winds are its element as much as the waves. Some kinds follow the larger rivers inland, and even visit lakes and large tanks, but most prefer the sea coast and the restless waves with which their own wild spirits are in sympathy. They often rest on reefs, or sandbanks, or fishing posts, or floating spars, and they are persuaded that the buoys in the harbour have been provided only for their convenience: but failing such solid resting-places they will take their seat on a dancing wave, with an easy grace which is all their own, and eye the passing boat with a happy and triumphant smile. They feed entirely on the wing, roaming up and down the coast, visiting all harbours and following ships at sea. Watching the flight of Gulls is one of the many delights of a sea voyage to me. For hours together they will keep their place about the stern of a fast steamer, as if it drew them on without effort on their part. They rise or sink, fall back a little or forge ahead, or pass from one side to the other, as if there were some hidden motive power at work within them. Outwardly there is nothing to be seen but a few lazy flaps now and then of their snowy wings. A plateful of scraps goes over-board, and in an instant they are a screaming and scrambling crowd, growing smaller and dimmer till they pass out of sight altogether as the swift ship goes on her way. But in a quarter of an hour, lo! they are about us again as if they had never been absent.