Page:The Cornwall coast.djvu/59

 FOWEY 53 the schooner or barque of commerce. All these are represented in this lovely harbour within its protecting sea-gates; but none of them are repre- sented intrusively ; there is plenty of room, and there are delightful creeks running up into utter woodland solitude, like that one vi^hich is the pleasantest way of reaching Lanteglos Church. One feature of this Fowey creek is its constant clamour of seagulls. From morning to night their voice can be heard, sometimes with a noise of wrangling and discordance, sometimes in single cries of bodeful complaint. Occasionally the din is such that it is difficult to hear a friend speaking ; the birds cluster and hover and swoop above with fierce argument and angry parleying. They are so accustomed to human presences that, even if sometimes a nuisance, they are more often a joy. They are never molested ; they have a sense of privilege — the good women of the houses will come out and talk to them as one might to a pet canary. Very often the house-wife throws broken food to them, and laughs at their scramble for it — the birds' queer difficulty in settling downward on the water, the wide sweeps they take to reach what lies beneath, the awkward dives and tumblings when they are near the surface. In full flight they are graceful and buoyant, with an easy command of their passage ; but in descending thus to snatch something from the tide they often appear clumsy. When the object they want is close beneath, they do not seem able to reach it without fluttering and effort ; whereas if they see anything from a dis- tance they can swoop down upon it with the greatest ease. Sometimes one will gather some morsel from the water or exposed beach, and soar away with it ; if observed, another, or perhaps