of the Norfolk and Suffolk Birds. 53 
the spot at the rate of fourpence a score, and are regularly sent 
in considerable quantities to the markets at Norwich and Lynn. 
They are eaten cold, like Lapwing's eggs, and also used for 
culinary purposes; but they are rather of an inferior quality, 
and somewhat like Duck's eggs in flavour. The person who 
sells these eggs gives fifteen pounds a year for the privilege of 
collecting them. 
This species of Gull never lays more than three eggs the first 
time; but if these are taken, it will lay again. We found many 
of the old birds sitting in the middle of June ; most of these had 
only one egg in the nest, but a few of them had two. "Their 
nests are made of the tops of reeds and sedge, and are very flat 
at the top. The eggs vary so much in size, shape, and colour, 
that a person not well acquainted with them would suppose some 
of them to belong to a different species of bird. Some are 
thickly covered with dusky spots, and others are of a light-blue 
colour without any spots at all. The young birds leave the nest 
as soon as hatched, and take to the water. "When they can fly 
well the old ones depart with them, and disperse themselves on 
the sea-coast, where they are found during the autumn and win- 
ter. By the middle of July they all leave Scoulton, and are 
not seen there again till the following spring. We were a little 
surprised at seeing some of these Gulls alight and sit upon some 
low bushy willows which grow on the island. No other than 
the Brown-headed Gull breeds at the above mere. A few of 
that kind also breed in many of the marshes contiguous to the 
sea-coast of Norfolk. 
Genus LXII. Lesrris. 
1. L. pomarinus (Pomarine Gull). 
A specimen of this Gull killed near Ipswich is in the collec- 
tion of Mr. Seaman. | 
2. L. pa- 
