. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Short-billed Gull. supply of food is more limited. One may see at a glance that they are not fitted for competition. Their bills are not only shorter, but much more delicately proportioned than those of the other gulls; while their gabbling, duck-like notes oppose a mild alto to the screams and high trumpetings of their larger congeners. Gulls of this and allied species are quick to appreciate the advantages of protected areas. Along the water
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Short-billed Gull. supply of food is more limited. One may see at a glance that they are not fitted for competition. Their bills are not only shorter, but much more delicately proportioned than those of the other gulls; while their gabbling, duck-like notes oppose a mild alto to the screams and high trumpetings of their larger congeners. Gulls of this and allied species are quick to appreciate the advantages of protected areas. Along the water front, or near steamers, where shooting would not be al- lowed, they become very bold. Short-bills, however, do not stand about on palings, and piles, and roofs, as do the Westerns, but rest, instead, almost exclusively on the water. Thus, if one attempts to bait the gulls with an offering of bread laid on the wharf-rail, the larger gulls will begin to line the neighboring rails and posts, craning their necks hungrily, or snatching exposed fragments; but the Short-bills will settle upon the water and draw near to the piling below, con tent to catch such crumbs as fall from the high-set table. \^ J,' Away from the city the gulls become increasingly wary, *-^ for no other reason than that sneaks with guns will do what the law forbids, as often as they think themselves safe from observa- tion. Once a gull is killed or wounded, its companions hover about it with piteous cries, momentarily forgetful of their own danger, or indifferent to it, as they urge their fallen comrade to escape. This sympathetic trait is, of course, taken advantage of by the Fourth-of-July sportsman (?), whose only requirements are noise and something to shoot at. Gregariousness admits of every degree, from the momentary exhibi- tion of sympathy, or the chance assemblage of hawks in migration, to those perfectly timed evolutions of sandpeeps or sparrows which are at once our admiration and our despair. The la
Size: 1459px × 1713px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
