all creatures great and small

An offer he can refuse

The gull had a pretty blunt offer for the oyster-catcher at this point. "Give me your oyster and I won't beat the crap out of you". Our plucky little hero didn't much care for the offer and tried to hide inside of this placid group of Brant's geese instead.

However the geese saw the impending brouhaha coming and wanting no part, scattered in all directions like commuters on the subway when a fights about to break out.