NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 325 



A great many Sea Gulls were starved or frozen to death on 

 Loch Tay this winter, and many were found dead on the beach. 

 They are usually absent from Loch Tay in winter, but were nume- 

 rous this winter. 



SKUAS. 

 Stercorariixae. 

 [See paper by Mr. J. J. Dalgleish on the Skuas, antea, p. 274]. 



COMMON GULL. 



Larus canus, Lin. 

 [See Black-headed Gull, infra.] 



HERRING GULL. 



Larus argentatus, Gmel. 



Mr. Maloch, of Perth, informs me that a Herring Gull in the 

 possession of a gentleman in Perth has lived for over 29 years. 

 It is now quite blind, and has to be fed by hand. A decrease 

 also in its size has been perceptible within the last few years. 



BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



Chroicocephalus ridibuxdus (Lin.). 



This species appeared in unusual numbers at various localities 

 in autumn — end of Oct, and Nov. — no doubt following the vast 

 shoals of sprats and other small fish. Mr. Service reports them at 

 that time in " extraordinary numbers," along with the Common 

 Gull, in the estuary of the Nith. In a thaw, Black-headed Gulls 

 travel inland, usually following a river. In very dry summers, 

 such as that of 1880, they frequent our streams, hunting for 

 minnows and small fish. In June we had several pairs upon 

 one stretch of the river Carron. Their nearest breeding- station 

 is some six miles off. Numbers, during the summer drought, 

 frequented the shallows of our rivers, feeding on trout-fry and 

 minnows. On the Carron — in which some 60,000 trout-fry were 

 put in the spring of 1880 — this species was unusually plentiful. 



In conclusion, I desire to draw attention to the comparison 

 of the data under each species obtained in each year. These, when 

 compared — after a number of years' observations are recorded — 

 with general phenomena of meteorology of the different seasons, 



