82 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



isles [in the loch] are Herring Gulls, Pewit Gulls, and great 

 Terns, called here Pictarnes." The Pewit Gulls were, of 

 course, Lams ridibundus, and by Herring Gulls were 

 probably meant Lesser Black-backs. Incidentally, one 

 wonders if the place-name Mawcarse, near Loch Leven, 

 has any connection with the Gulls. But the above is ancient 

 history. In our day no Black-headed Gulls nested at Loch 

 Leven, so far as I know, until about fifteen years ago. When 

 on St Serf's Island on 20th May 1886, I did see a iQ\N of this 

 species flying about ; but, as my notes state, I did not think 

 they were breeding. On subsequent visits during the eighties 

 and nineties (including 1898) none were observed. When, 

 exactly, nesting first began I am unable to say, but once 

 started the gullery rapidly became populous (some associate 

 this with the removal of the cattle from the island), and in 

 May 1908, when I first saw it, I entered it in my diary as 

 "a large colony." In 191 3 I made the rough estimate of 

 " 1000 to 1500 birds" (say 500 to 700 pairs). Mr Fred. S. 

 Beveridge, in a memorandum kindly sent to me, considers 

 that a marked diminution took place between the years 

 1909 and 1914. " Since, however, and especially during last 

 season (1919), the species has become more abundant than 

 ever," but he gives no estimate of their numbers. The 

 keepers annually collect the eggs, and during the war many 

 were exposed for sale in Kinross at is. to is. 9d. per dozen. 

 Mr J. W. Bowhill agrees with me that the colony only dates 

 back to about 1905. Prior to that the only Gulls he ever 

 found nesting on St Serf's were four or five pairs of Common 

 Gulls {Lams canus) on 19th May 1903 (eggs in his collection). 

 In 1885 I was shown a Lesser Black-back's Qgg which was 

 got there that year, and nests of the Common Tern I have 

 often seen. 



Miller's Loch, on the Lomond Hills. Mr A. Templeman 

 tells me {in lit. 31, iii. 20) that when he was at this loch 

 in June 1919 he was mobbed by a crowd of Black-headed 

 Gulls, which he estimated at forty to fifty pairs. There were 

 many nests (with two or three eggs) built on tussocks of 

 Carex, etc. It would be interesting to know when the 

 Gulls first nested here. I imagine the colony is a very 



