* * * 5 A delightful account of one of
the breeding grounds is quoted from old Fuller. " There is an island ofseme 200 acres near Harwich called the Puit Island (i.e. Pewit gulls) in effect'
the sole inhabitants thereof. On St. George's day precisely, they pitch on the island, seldom Laying fewer than four or more than six eggs. Great their love to their young ones, for though against foul weather they make to the mainland '(a certain prognostick of tempests), yet they always weather it out in the island when hatching their young ones, seldom sleeping while they sit on their eggs (afraid, it seems, of spring tides), which signifleth nothing as to securing their eggs from the inundation, but is an argument of their great affec- tion. . . . Being young they consist only of bones, feathers, and lean-flesh, which hath a raw gust of the sea. But pout- terers take them there and feed them with gravel and curds (that is, physick and food), the one to scour, the other to fat them in a fortnight ; and their flesh thus recruited is most delicious."
Previous page
