SOME BIRD NOTES FROM THE OUTER HEBRIDES 27 



great quantities in the throes of death with marks on their 

 heads, showing where they had been pecked just behind the 

 eye. On the tenth day after the young were hatched we found 

 but one in every five alive. On disturbing the colony many 

 of the young swim out into the loch, and when once their 

 backs become wet they are paralysed, and fall victims to the 

 ever watchful Common and Greater Black-back Gulls. Yet 

 they are not difficult to rear. I took six when just ten days 

 old. They are fully fledged now, and are doing well, yet for the 

 first week they were fed on tinned salmon ! From the contents 

 of the stomachs of young birds examined, it would appear that 

 they are to a great extent fed on wire-worms and other larvas. 



COMMON GULL, Lams canus, Linn. Commoner than the Sparrow 

 on the housetop, this, in my opinion, is the most destructive 

 and the blackest thief of the genus. I am fully convinced 

 that, in view of their immense increase during the last years, 

 an effort ought to be made to thin their numbers, as the 

 mischief caused is infinitely greater than that by all the 

 Ravens, Falcons, and Hoodie Crows put together. It would be 

 better from every point of view were a little more attention 

 given to them and a little less to the Falcons and Harriers. 

 It would appear, from what I was able to observe, that certain 

 individuals would quarter the same ground in search of eggs 

 and young birds day after day. I append a list of the number 

 of eggs which fell victims to their depredations, and it will be 

 seen that very few out of the total number found managed to 

 hatch off: 



Species Number of Number of Number of 



nests found. eggs found, eggs taken. 



.Ringed Plover . . 6 12 9 



Pewit 3 12 4 



Oyster Catcher 4 8 3 



Dunlin ... 4 16 16 



Lesser Tern 3 6 i 



Red-throated Direr i 2 i 



It must be remembered that this is but a small portion of the 

 total, as we were only engaged in finding suitable nests for our 

 purpose, and they were all found, with the exception of the 

 Diver, on a stretch of ground some one and a half miles in 

 extent. Besides this formidable array we observed them 

 snatching young Pewits from in front of their agonised parents, 

 and broods of ducklings were devastated in four instances. 

 When such a brood is disturbed one is sure to be floating 

 overhead, and no sooner have the young raised their heads 

 above the water, than they are pounced on and borne away. In 



