 | Birds and flowers and other country things |  |
THE SEA-GULL.
A joyful bird is he,
As he lies like a cradled thing at rest
In the arms of a sunny sea!
The little waves rock too and fro,
And the white gull lies asleep,
As the fisher's bark, with breeze and tide,
Goes merrily over the deep.
The ship, with her fair sails set, goes by,
And her people stand to note,
How the sea-gull sits on the rocking waves
As still as an anchored boat.
The sea is fresh, the sea is fair,
And the sky calm overhead,
And the sea-gull lies on the deep, deep sea,
Like a king in his royal bed!
A joyful bird is he,
Sitting, like a king, in calm repose
On the breast of the heaving sea!
The waves leap up, the wild wind blows,
And the gulls together crowd,
And wheel about, and madly scream
To the sea that is roaring loud;—
And let the sea roar ever so loud,
And the winds pipe ever so high,
With a wilder joy the bold sea-gull
Sendeth forth a wilder cry,—
For the sea-gull he is a daring bird,
And he loves with the storm to sail;
To ride in the strength of the billowy sea;
And to breast the driving gale!
The little boat she is tossed about,
Like a sea-weed to and fro;
The tall ship reels like a drunken man,
As the gusty tempests blow.
But the sea-gull laughs at the pride of man,
And sails in a wild delight
On the torn-up breast of the night-black sea,
Like a foam-cloud, calm and white.
But he fears not wreck nor need,
For he rides the sea, in its stormy strength,
As a strong man rides his steed!
He makes on the shore his nest,
And he tries what the inland fields may be;
But he loveth the sea the best!
And away from land, a thousand leagues
He goes 'mid surging foam;
What matter to him is land or shore,
For the sea is his truest home!
And away to the north 'mong ice-rocks stern,
And among the frozen snow,
To a sea that is lone and desolate,
Will the wanton sea-gull go.
For he careth not for the winter wild,
Nor those desert-regions chill;
In the midst of the cold, as on calm, blue seas,
The sea-gull hath his will!
And the dead whale lies on the northern shores,
And the seal, and the sea-horse grim,
And the death of the great sea-creatures makes
A full, merry feast for him!
As he screams in his wheeling flight:
As he sits on the waves in storm or calm,
All cometh to him aright!
All cometh to him as he liketh best;
Nor any his will gainsay;
And he rides on the waves like a bold, young king,
That was crowned but yesterday!
The Gull, notwithstanding the gormandizing, and rather disgusting character given of it by Bewick, figures beautifully in his inimitable wood-cuts; giving the very spirit of wildness and freshness to his sea-side sketches.
The Gull may occasionally be found far inland, domesticated in old-fashioned gardens, where it is an indulged and amusing habitant, feeding on slugs and worms, and becoming thus a useful assistant to the gardener. In this state it seems entirely to throw off its wild native character, and assumes a sort of mock-heroic style, which is often quite ludicrous. We have seen one
We saw last summer, also, a Gull well known to northern tourists, which for twenty years has inhabited one of the inner green-courts at Alnwick Castle, and has outlived two or three companions. It is an interesting bird, of a venerable appearance; but, as it has been described in books, more need not be said of it.
In one of the towers of this same Castle, also, we were shown a pair of perfect bird-skeletons, under a glass shade, the history of which is mysterious. They are the skeletons of a pair of jackdaws, which had built in one of the upper towers of the Castle, and had been found in their present state, apparently nestled together. From the account given us by the porter, an intelligent old man, they appeared not to have been discovered in any confined place, where they might have died from starvation, but by their own tower, on the open roof, as if they had been death-stricken side by side.
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