RAVENS OF THE SEA
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Your correspondent, Douglas Gordon, writing under the above heading, mentions that in poetry most sea birds are usually lumped indiscriminately together, and that " the wild seamew shrieks its way through ballad and canto'' entirely irrespective of species.
It is not only in poetry that one notes this lack of dis- crimination. Some years ago, on my homeward way front Buenos Ayres, our ship steamed into the bay of Rio de Janeiro. Sailing ....and the harbour were a number of large and very striking looking birds, with long wings and forked tails, which I afterwards learned were frigate birds, though no one, at the moment, could tell me anything about them. But when an elderly Englishman came on board, with all his luggage labelled for the next Brazilian port, I seized my chance of obtaining the desired information. However, it was not until my new fellow passenger had observed the birds for several minutes that he eventually remarked, " There are several kinds of sea birds. One is called a sea gull.' Ilese birds are very probably sea gulls."—I am, Sir, &c., 7 Millington Rd., Cambridge. W. BALFOUR GOURLAY.
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