You
see, they are _scavengers_, and so are to be found wherever there are
waste scraps of food.
Perhaps you have noticed that Gulls float high in the sea, like so many
corks. They can leave the water easily, and take to flight; but they
_cannot_ dive. The Gull's dinner-table is the whole coast. His eyes are
keen enough, as you will know if you have watched him swoop down on a
piece of bread in mid-air, and catch it neatly in his beak.
The flight of this Gull is beautiful, graceful, and easy. Sometimes he
wheels up and up into the blue sky, almost without moving a wing. He can
also glide for a great while, balancing his body against the wind, and
turning his head from side to side on the look-out for food. Those long,
pointed wings of his make him one of Nature's most perfect
flying-machines. His wild, laughing cry has given him the nickname of
Laughing Gull.
In the fields and along the banks of our big rivers you may see the
Common Gull with numbers of his black-headed cousins. His beak and legs
and webbed feet are greenish yellow, and this is quite enough to
distinguish the two birds.
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