The Staffordshire and Potteries Examiner. — 1880-10-02 (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England)

GULL SHOOTING. '  " We look upon the gulls almost in the light of friends. They come around us during the day to be feel; they know as well as we do the feeding times, and should we forget them they never forget us. It distresses us to see them shot before our eyes." Such is the pathetic plea put forward by a resident on the English coast for the marine water fowl in Isle neighbourhood, and it will find an instant echo, we are convinced, at the vast majority of our seaside resorts. During the past season there can be scarcely one of them whose .inhabitants were not put to the pain of seeing harmless gulls massacred by cockney sportsmen in boats close to shore. We use the term " cockney " here, not in connection with Londoners in particular, but as the aptest adjective to describe the " sportsmanship " of those who can find pleasure in such an ignoble pastime. Where lies the fun of gull shooting as commonly practised by these objectionable people h The bird offers a mark that can scarcely be missed as it comes soaring along in those graceful swoops which call back to the mind of the traveller the majestic flight of the albatross. There is no prettier sight to be seen from the shore than these handsome birds topping the white crested waves at one moment, and at the next turning their course upwards with a scarcely perceptible effort, preparatory to another plunge downwards. It is evident, too, that they repose confidence in the humanity of mankind, for, unlike most sea birds, they show no fear at the proximity of human beings. If our cockne4 sportsmen would only experiment with sea fowl shooting off the Yorkshire and Scotch coasts, they would not get very full bags, we imagine. But the gulls which frequent our great sea-side resorts are half domesticated, and it is a gross cruelty to take advantage of their comparative tameness to compass their deaths. They do no harm, for they are too few in number to diminish the local fish supply, while after they are dead they are absolutely worthless. Tales are certainly told on the coast of the poor birds haying been cooked and eaten by their murderers. We can almost imagine these stories to be true, for any one who would find sport in shooting half-tame sea birds L might easily by an equally perverted taste discover , rout gull to be a dainty dish.—Glot..  1.0 amo re announced from apoplexy, of Mr. W. W. Mitchell, Mayor of Arundel, and proprietor of the West Soccer Gazette'. William Lawson, a Leeds butcher and pig dealer, has been fined £lO, or in default two months' imprisonment, for exposing diseased meat for sale. It is understood that the judges who will hear the Berwick election petition on October 18 are Justices Hawkins and Lopes. Henry Pitts, seaman, of the steamer Reamal, bee been landed at Barking, Buffering from severe stabs inflicted by a Russian seaman, who jumped overboard. end was either drowned or escaped.  the monuments ereeted at Moltluia in 1877 muor of the tiarioaldian ..11diers who fell on the rd Nowmber. lsei, :mother is shortly to intugumted at Milan. The monument, with the inscription to the fallen, is surmounted by a fine statue of •• Italia," in Carrara marble, about 14ft. hiah. It is the work of a Turineee sculptor, named Luigi Belli. •