. Wild nature's ways . y believe it, because I have watched hisrelative, the herring gull (a bird of about equalsize and infamous character), gulp down a youngpeewit so well grown that it nearly choked itscaptor. Although not birds of overflowing devotion,individual lesser black-backed gulls sometimesshow extraordinary courage and pugnacity inthe defence of their eggs and chicks. One ofthe keepers told me that during his long experi-ence on the Fames he had been twice attackedby members of the species, having his cap takenoff on one occasion, and his head so forcibly struckby the formidable bi
. Wild nature's ways . y believe it, because I have watched hisrelative, the herring gull (a bird of about equalsize and infamous character), gulp down a youngpeewit so well grown that it nearly choked itscaptor. Although not birds of overflowing devotion,individual lesser black-backed gulls sometimesshow extraordinary courage and pugnacity inthe defence of their eggs and chicks. One ofthe keepers told me that during his long experi-ence on the Fames he had been twice attackedby members of the species, having his cap takenoff on one occasion, and his head so forcibly struckby the formidable bill of the aggressor on anotheras to render it sore for days afterwards. The bravery of individuals in the featheredworld is sometimes quite astonishing. Even thegentle, defenceless terns will occasionally summonsufficient courage to attack vigorously humanbeings intruding either by accident or design uponthe privacy of _^their breeding quarters. One day,whilst wandering along the beach of a small 238 WILD NATURES LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL island tenanted by a colony of sea swallows, asthe terns are popularly called on account of theirlong, forked tails and swordhke wings, I wassuddenly struck on the crown of m}^ head bywhat I at first supposed to be a pebble jokinglyhurled at me by some friend in hiding. Itturned out, however, to be an Arctic tern tryingto drive me away from the neighbourhood ofher nest, if such the mere depression on the top
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