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CHAPTER XII.

GULLS IN CAPTIVITY, AND GULLERIES.

Desirable pets.-Longevity.-Discipline of new-caught birds.-Reconciliations and confidences.-Good-natured, not stupid.-Hardy and accommodating, but not ascetic.-Requisites for a Gullery.-Voracity of Gulls.-Black-headed Gull. -Its mode of nesting.-Its eggs.-Domesticability of Gulls.-Their capture.Application of the method to Geese.The birds kept in Dr. Neill's Gullery.Docility of Cormorants.-Chinese Fishing Cormorants.-Albatrosses.-Their capture.-Nesting-places.-Battues.-Dangers of a calm.-Principle of flight.

To residents in the Midland Counties of England and in the central regions of continental Europe, it may be suggested that Gulls and their near relations would supply a novel, amusing, and easily-procured set of ornamental occupants of their pleasure-grounds. The birds of this group, though varying greatly in size, and considerably in colouring, have still so much that is common to all of them, that as far as our present object is concerned, they may be spoken of in general terms. They are all very tameable and attachable, very full of fun and good-nature, very hardy, and very destructive of some things which it is not always .convenient that they should be permitted to destroy.

Gulls, where they are free from accidents, no doubt live to a great age. When rambling along the west coast of Scotland, or steaming among its adjacent islands, I have seen individuals standing on ledges of the rocks, or launching out heavily into mid air if too near an approach is made to them, which were perfect patriarchs, shaming, both by their solid bulk, and plumage of more

CHAP. XII.]

DISCIPLINE OF NEW PUPILS.

403

than adult completeness, any Gulls that one has the honour of becoming acquainted with in South British sea-side excursions. How these venerable gentlemen and ladies would behave if caught and deprived of flight, we cannot say; as they are seldom to be got at without first sending a rifle-ball through them, and not always then. But the young birds of the year, which are so easily to be had along our coasts from the time of the herring fishery till a little after Christmas, show a most cheerful and praiseworthy mode of encountering what can't be cured. Their discipline with us has been this. They come home packed in a hamper and half-starved. When taken out, they try hard to bite the fingers of whoever has the first handling of them, and would give a sharp gripe, if allowed. This is avoided by grasping them round the neck just at the back of the head. But this alone will not save the operator, as their claws are made for scratching as well as for swimming and running, and so they must be secured below as well as above. Some one else then takes the wing, and amputates all beyond the elbow joint, if it is wished really to prevent the bird from flying away. It is then put under a hencoop, to collect its thoughts. By-and-by pieces of fish are given it it will not look at them. Next morning, however, some have disappeared. A pan of water is introduced into the coop, and thankfully accepted, both for drinking and washing. Do Gulls drink salt water when they are out at sea for weeks and weeks together? In confinement they drink fresh water plentifully and with enjoyment. Then, when the slaveowner's back is turned, the other pieces of fish vanish. Gully will do he may wait an hour or two, or half a day. He is now hungry. Some bits of fish are thrown

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in to him. He looks first at the fish, then at the cruel donor, the kidnapper and pinioner of birds; his eye is distrustful, eager, angry, amicable, all in quick succession. Down goes a morsel, then another. He glances at his enslaver, who stands looking on; no further harm is done, so he takes his next piece of fish and washes it in the water before swallowing it. Another is served in the same way; still no more harm from the horrid tyrannical man. He looks at him confidently, and would, if he could, say, "Well! here I am in prison; you 're my turnkey; let us shake hands; quarrelling will only make bad worse; let's be comfortable together;" the kidnapper then throws the hen-coop on its back, and dismisses M. Gull on his parole d'honneur. And he is wiser than Smith O'Brien; he accepts his ticket of leave, and makes the best of a bad bargain.

It is the innate good-nature of Gulls, I believe, and not any folly or stupidity that can be deservedly attributed to them, which has raised the outcry and charge of Gullibility. They are bons in a sort of French sense; what the Norfolk rustics call silly-good-tempered. The ridiculous, laughing twinkle in the eye of a Gull who feels himself at home must be seen to be appreciated. A Gull of mine was missing, we knew not how. Some workmen on the place had their job stopped, and were sent about their business. In about a week comes a boy, Sir, my father bought a Gull of a man that stood at such and such a crossways, and he thought you might like to have it." The basket was a loose twisted one; and through the sticks, and especially when the

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lid was just raised, I saw a bright eye peeping at me

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Halloo! my boy!" said I, "this is my Gull back

CHAP. XII.]

ACCOMMODATING APPETITE.

405

again! Open the basket, and turn him out into the courtyard, and tell your father to come and talk to me about it."

A bird that is no fresh-water sailor, but can revel in our gales as they blow hardest on their respectively most exposed coast, easterly, sou' westerly, nor' westerly, or north-easterly,-will not suffer from the inclemencies of a nobleman's park, a lady's pleasureground, a farmer's kitchen-garden, or a clergyman's paddock with a gold and silver fish-pond at one corner. Sweet are the uses of adversity. To one inured to storms, every port is a paradise. Great, too, is the force of philosophy. As to Aristippus, so to the Gull, all sorts of fare, and lodging, and company, are convenient. Fish falls short: never mind; rats, mice, frogs, dead sparrows, snails, worms, and beetles will do. Animal food is scarce for a time. 66 Well," he says, "I will not be above the other fowls; I will take my bread, and a bit of cheese, if you can spare it, and my barleymeal and water, and my boiled rice, and be thankful too. Of even water I can bear a short allowance, though in water I am in one of my elements. You remember how John Hunter has preserved the stomach of an ancestor of mine, who dined for some time on this sort of diet. Why should I be more fastidious than my forefathers ? Reach me the porringer, and see how I will peck."

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"I have observed that the Black-headed Gull eats a great deal of corn in the newly-sown fields; and I now find that the lesser Black-backed Gull does the same, as I shot one which had a handful of corn (oats and barley) in its crop, mixed up with worms, grubs, &c."-St. John's Tour in Sutherland, vol. i., p. 224. Aldrovandi says that in Liguria (the Riviera di Genoa) Gulls are (or were) very destructive of olives.

"Not but what," loquitur Gull, "I like red-letter days, when we may eat meat in plenty, and even abstinence days, when we are confined to fish and laitage, better than a pure farinaceous penance, such as this. Yet if we have only water-gruel, we will have patience also. Water-gruel is better than even the purest of air to inflate the stomach. I shall still be a Gull, and not quite degraded to a Chameleon. But it is no matter of conscience with me; so do not expect from me more than I profess. I am a ravenous Protestant amidst a convent of Carthusians; and animal food I will not scruple to eat, if it come in my way, under whatever disguise. Therefore if your chickens, your ducklings, your turkey-poults, and your faisandeaux, disappear while they are taking their walks abroad in my presence, do not blame me, but the force of appetite which is in me."

Dropping our report of Mr. Gull's apology, it may be stated that all Gulls, little and big, will, as soon as they arrive at nearly a twelvemonth's age, kill and eat any weaker creature that comes in their way. On this account they cannot be allowed to associate with other birds smaller than themselves in the aviary, but, if they are not the only feathered members of the establishment, must have a place to themselves. And they are so easily pleased that a Gullery is not hard to contrive. A pool of water, a little rockwork, a bed of sand and shingle, and a few yards of turf to repose on, surrounded by a light fence, and the thing is done. Grotto-work is an appropriate addition to the scene, and unwieldy geological specimens, or bits of ruins, may be grouped in the Gullery with good effect. A cave, the termination of which shall not be visible, may

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