NEW BIRD Hsarrs.
Writing the other day about gulls in London, I suggested that the tribe was changing its ancestral habit. A week later I opened Nature by Day, by A. R.. Thompson (Ivor Nicholson and Watson), whose Nature by Night is one of the richest and most original books of natural history observa- tion in the language. Though the most original part of the book concerns our mammals, he has picked out for special emphasis in the preface the changing habit of the gull—thus : " Seagulls are passing more and more of their lives inland. This is not altogether desirable. They are graceful birds, and, in their natural environment, a welcome addition to our wild life. This is not the case on the moors, where gulls are settling in increasing numbers. Weaker birds find it difficult to bring off their young. Seagulls are great egg thieves ; newly hatched and even some older birds are devoured."
The passage is curiously parallel to my note. Of course, we must distinguish gull from gull. The black-backed is much the worst, and the black-headed, which monopolizes London, is the least aggressive and has always nested inland.
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