The St. Johns herald., 1892-11-03
GULLS OF THE LAKE.
Birds That Safely Breast the
 Fiercest Gales.
With Skill and Precision That Is Max vicious, They Wrest Their Food from the Very Jaws of
 the Tempest.


 of the many exceedingly interesting sights furnished by this ever-changing panorama of fascinating water which too many Chicagoans think is too com mon to be worthy the least attention.
 These great birds, says the Chicago Tribune, look much like eagles, of which they are type. They are typical Chicagoans. Many of them race in with the suburban trains in the morn ing, and out again to the wooded shore lands at night. They seem to like the din and roar of city life. Daily they pursue their trackless path deep into the city's heart, and not infrequently sound forth their satisfaction at what they see from its business housetops.
 These great, eagle-like birds are de- voted workers for Chicago, workers for the happiness of Chicago people. Their wines measure nearly three feet from tip to tip, and their power both to soar and poise in the teeth of the angriest gale is a marvel The fact that the wings of these lake gulls are heavily ,muscled gives little clew to the won- derful secret, for when in mid-air it seems as though they must be entirely at the mercy of the gale, particularly when poising, for at such moments they are maintaining a certain definite position with apparently no effort, and their entire appearance is that of statuesque repose. For many seconds at a time they may be seen thus poised while perhaps within speaking distance huge lake craft with hundreds of tons of ballast reel and stagger almost to icapsizing by reason of the hurricane that is sweeping the lake. As an ex- ample of how exceeding far the cum ming of nature surpasses the alleged wisdom of man. the motionless boise of these gulls of the lake, mid-air in a raging storm, gives evidence most strik- ing.
 If the storm brings the human mariner distress, and often death, it is the kind Hest friend the lake gull knows. For the storm does the lake gull's market ing for him; it is his greatest provider of food. Therefore, when tempest is howl ing and angrily hurling the pillows ln- land from off the great, rocking plateau of water is the time to see these gulls busiest in their quest for food. A storm on the lake means the casting towards shore of quantities of dead fish which, were it not for the gulls, would add to the city's pestilential possibilities. With keen eyes scanning the surging flood these great birds, riding mid-air, and usually but short league from shore, wait as if at perfect ease for the ap- pearance of their food. Sighting fin ny carcass, they take position imme- diately above it, then drop like shot upon their prize, and seemingly with out touching the water they seize the fish and soar gracefully away. The ab- eolute nicety with which they gauge their drop-which is usually distance of not less than fifty feet-involving an accurate calculation as to the distance the fierce wind may carry them be- tween the moment of their folding their wings and the instant they will reach the water, together with the calcula- tion of the shift of position occasioned to the fish by the surging waters upon which it floats, is something past all finding out. Of course no one presumes for moment that the gull does any mental figuring on these points; not one-thousandth part the calculating that a man would do when about to swim a narrow, swiftly-howing stream and make certain point on the oppo- site side. And yet the feat performed by the gull is probably a thousand times more wonderful than that of the
 
 ing to his calculations.
 The curious may wonder why the gulls do not wait until their favorite food has been thrown up on tho beach, and then take it with seemingly less danger to themselves. We'll, the reason is that unlike many people the lake gull never loses any time waiting for ga ship" that may never land. Its lnowl- edge of wind and water tells it its food then the storm which brought it may go down, leave it there, and another storm spring up from the island and wash it away again. When dead fish are not plentiful the menu of the gull is made up of refuse matter generally, which is flung up by the waves, as well as of various marine creatures left upon the sands when the storm has abated. When the elements have proven negligent in its behalf, this bird resorts to incursions inland At such times the more distin- gushing traits of its honorable and fearless ancestry assert themselves. It is bold and independent, even to insist ing that fishermen along the piers are bound to share their baits with it. It seems to prefer that they do so willing 1y. If they don't it will suddenly drop down beside them, take mouthful of the grubs or minnows, which have pre- viously been located from great dis tance above, and then soar away, leav- ing the startled fisherman to wonder what happened.
 Seen at Q distance the lake gull seems of but one color, muddy brown. A close view, however, shows the neck and head to be of white and the remain der of the body, including the wing, gray, variegated with white edges and