Birds and all Nature, Vol. IV, No 4, October 1898

<h2><SPAN name="Sea_Gulls"></SPAN>Sea Gulls</h2> <p>Of late years the Sea Gulls have found it so much to their interest to come up to the Thames in our midst that their graceful evolutions around the crowded bridges in ever growing flocks has almost ceased to excite notice. But this year, as never before, they have descended upon the water of St. James Park in such great numbers that their presence must considerably exercise the minds of those responsible for the welfare of the other wild fowl there. They may be seen sometimes resting upon the surface of the eastern half of the lake in sufficient number almost to hide the water. And at the luncheon hour, when released workers throng bank and bridge, bestowing upon the water the scanty fragments of their frugal meals, the gulls, on ready wing, with an agility born of long practice over stormy seas, give the clumsier Ducks and Geese hard work to obtain even a small share of what is going. Not so long ago a piece of plain bread might often float uneaten until it sank waterlogged for the benefit of the fish. It is so no longer. No crumb now goes a-begging or is scouted by any of the old habitues as beneath their notice.&mdash; <i>London Paper.</i></p> <hr class="chap" /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</SPAN></span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />