The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-09
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inehss arafi. amt Fhet these eefe hrutei
IN nv tho rnd ~ mtci, ~. ~ hud ths hdrH
hanging dosr M afou.d making n covered
tent IN etich ~ oOid hise Nith otW
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tte met morning 70 pulie,i duWn t~lnw
tho Fdl colony AMI lsndrd under cover
~ 49, hsh tuies ftcr~ we errr'ed fhe
Blind and et undefnes'h win or cafn"faa,
then, holding up tho umbrella ~ braan
slowly edeihs toward The foohery
II IL hard ~ say It-, what tho aulls
thought this queer loohins object was- they
could 80 no legs no head, hut still u fnoved'
Whsreas tho day ls,fore they had gone
Wild NJ Our approach. now they paid little
attention ~ the green thing that blended
fairly we'll with tne green tules, even though
II gradually approached closer and closer
Tfter tnanduvrtna for almost an hour
wc reached tho edge ~ he colony and
f-L.- -. Till l.. IstulAA cha asian
siun handle ~ tho umbrella In tho mud.
Spfne ~ tho parents regarded the green
tent with ~lsricior, backing on OF rising
to circle around where they could get q
full view,
nut IL WAS no, long before the blind
seemed 20 ms. as pnrt NJ the scenery and
we wcrc surrounded on all slides by the
snow plumagcd birds coming and going
and paying little or no attention IN us,
~ We tecrel ont or POINTED our cameras
through the loopholps In the canvas.
Although there we're at least n thousand
rair OF gull4 nesting no close together. yet
housekeeping was In no sense o communal
matter. The restE were within two or
three feet Of each other, hut zach pair Of
gtills had its own horne srOt and the inva-
sion Of that place Wy Hny other gull was the
challenge for a fight.
Several times we wee tho excited ~sreCta-
tors OF fights that were going on Just ,ou'-lCo
our tent. | watched one old hen, who. was
very angry because she couldn't find her
chicks, AS ore of her neighbors lii near,
she grabbed the tail Of tho intruder and
gave it a sharp Jerk.
At that both birds grasped each other. by
the bill and a lively set-to followed. They
pulled and tugged till suddenly the old hen
let go and grabbed her opponent bv the
neck and began shaking and hanging on
with all the tenacity Of u bull pup, till the
intruder got enough and departed. leaving
the victor with n mouthful of feathers.
n H. ---- h~I lat cha and aNrnn
of the young gulls were about grown. By
watching the actions of the parents, / soon
discovered that their greatest anxiety seemed
TO be to keep their children crouching low
in the nest so they would not run away ana
get lost in the crowd.
saw one young gull start to run of
through the reeds, but he hadn't gone a
ward before the mother dived at him with a
blow that sent him rolling. He got up
dazed and started off in a new direction:
but she raped him again on the head till
he was glad to crouch down IN the dry
reeds.
The parents seemed to recognize heir
own chicks largely by location. Several
times l saw old birds pounce upon young
them numerically. 1t seemed to be as
much the duty OF a gull mother to beat
her neighbours children, if they didn't stay
home. as to whip her own II they moved
out Of the nest, but often this would lead
TO u rough dinl luilDio i6hp dihOhS Wy
old birds. Sometimes a young gull would
start to swim off in the water, but it never
went far before it was bounced upon and
driven back shoreward.
Although we had an excellent chance to
study gull life from our blind, yet we found
little pleasure in it at tho time. The sun
was pelting hot and there was not the
faiEtest movement in the sultry atmos-
phere. We had to breathe the foulest
kind Of air on account of the dead birds
and decaying fish scattered about, and we
were standing in a muck that was con-
tinually miring deeper. =
Swarms OF flies and mosquitoes harassed
us constantly, while the perspiration kept
dripping from our bodies, till, after three
or four hours in the blind, our tongues
were parched from thirst, and with loss
of strength and patience we were COM
PEELED to quit for the day.