Page:The birds of America, volume 7.djvu/195

 inclined, he may shoot them down without any difficulty, and the more he kills the more his chances are increased.

On the 10th of May, 1832, it was my good fortune to be snugly on board the "Lady of the Green Mantle," or, in other words, the fine revenue cutter Marion. The Gulls that laughed whilst our anchors were swiftly descending towards the marvellous productions of the deep, soon had occasion to be sorrowful enough. As they were in great numbers, officers and men, as well as the American woodsman, gazing upon them from the high decks of the gallant bark, had ample opportunities of observing their motions. They were all busily engaged on wing, hovering here and there around the Brown Pelicans, intent on watching their plunges into the water, and all clamorously teasing their best benefactors. As with broadly extended pouch and lower mandible, the Pelican went down headlong, so gracefully followed the gay rosy-breasted Gull, which, on the brown bird's emerging, alighted nimbly on its very head, and with a gentle stoop instantly snatched from the mouth of its purveyor the glittering fry that moment entrapped!

Is this not quite strange, reader? Aye, truly it is. The sight of these manoeuvres rendered me almost frantic with delight. At times, several Gulls would attempt to alight on the head of the same Pelican, but finding this impossible, they would at once sustain themselves around it, and snatch every morsel that escaped from the pouch of the great bird. So very dexterous were some of the Gulls at this sport, that I have seen them actually catch a little fish as it leaped from the yet partially open bill of the Pelican. And now, reader, I will conclude this long article with some fragments from my journals.

Tortugas, May 1832.—Whilst here, I often saw the Black-headed Gull of Wilson, sucking the eggs of Sterna fuliginosa, and Sterna stolida. Our sailors assured me that these Gulls also eat the young of these two species of Terns when newly hatched.

Great Egg Harbour, May 1829.—Like all other Gulls, the Larus Atricilla disgorges its food when attacked by a Lestris, or when wounded, or suddenly surprised; but on all occasions of respite this Gull is apt to return to it, and vulture-like to swallow it anew. It differs however from the larger species of Gulls, by never, as far as I have observed, picking up bivalve shells, for the purpose of letting them fall to break them, and afterwards feed on their contents. On the ground they walk with considerable alertness, and not without a certain degree of elegance, especially during the love season. Whilst floating or swimming on the water, they are graceful in a high degree, and when seen, as they oftentimes are, in groups of many pairs, rising with, or sinking amidst the billows, which ever and anon break on the sandy shores of the coast, their alternate appearance