GULLS ON THE WATER.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.")
Sra,—Mr. J. Isabell, writing in the Spectator of January 18th, questions whether the white or grey colour of sea-gulls is protective; indeed, his own observations have led him to consider that it actually renders them more conspicuous. No doubt the protective value of this or any other colouring varies under different conditions ; but I think those under which Mr. Isabell's observations have been made in some way exceptional, as there can be little doubt that the conclusions of Wallace and the writer of the article on " White Animals " are sup- ported by those of many independent observers. Probably gulls are more visible against the dark-coloured cliffs and dark-blue sea of the extreme south-west coast than they are in many places. During the last fifteen years I have had many opportunities of watching sea birds from the shore and at sea in home waters, and I feel sure that as a rule the pale colouring helps to conceal them. About a mile from where .I write there are high, almost perpendicular cliffs, and from these one can look down over miles of sea. The water near the shore is usually covered with flocks of sea birds which breed or roost in the cliff. The adult gulls, which are mainly white, are extremely difficult to see, though they can be plainly heard, and they would often -escape notice altogether but for the presence among them of young birds in their dark mottled plumage. The colour of these immature birds tones exactly with the broken stone on the side of the cliff where the nests are made, but on the water it betrays them at once. The still darker cormorants, which are practically black, are always seen at once, though they are usually solitary when swimming, and so offer a much smaller object to the eye than a flock of twenty or thirty gulls. A few wild ducks may also be seen under the cliffs, and these, like the cormorants, are always visible. Black-backed gulls, guillemots, razor-bills, and puffins we seldom see here, but I saw a good deal of these birds some years ago when yachting in the Irish Sea and off the west coast of Scotland, and they were always far more conspicuous than the grey gulls either on the open sea or in
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