194 BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



extracts, as it is a pity that any such statement, if vmfounded, should remain 

 imrefuted : — 



^^The smallncss of the eyes is to this animal a peculiar happiness: a small 

 degree of vision is sufficient for an animal ever destined to live underground : 

 had these organs been larger, they would have been perpetually liable to injuries, 

 by the earth falling into them,' but nature, to prevent that inconvenience, hath 

 not only made them very small, but also covered them very closely with fur. 

 Anatomists mention, besides these, a third very wonderful contrivance for 

 their security, and inform us that each eye is furnished with a certain muscle, 

 by which the animal has the power of withdrawing or exserting them, according 

 to its exigencies. — Pennant's British Zoology, vol. 1, page 130, 8vo. ed. 



"The. mole, though not blind, has eyes so small and so covered, that it 

 can have little benefit from the sense of seeing." — Bnffon, vol. 5, page 358. 



''The eyes are so small, and so hidden beneath the hair, that their existence 

 even was denied for a while, They have been ascertained, however, to be 

 tolerably sharp-sighted." — Cuvier. 



"The actual existence of a visual organ, though in an imperfect state of 

 development, is well known; and the open condition of the eyelids, in the 

 common species at least, would lead to the conclusion that this sense is not 

 absolutely wanting to it." — Bell's Quadrupeds. 



HABITAT, NIDIFICATrON, INCUBATION, ETC., OF THE 

 BLACK-HEADED GULL, (LARUS RIDIBUNDUS.) 



15V MR. W. D. BALSHAW. 



WiLLUCHBY mentions a colony of the Black-Headed Gulls, {Lariis ridihun- 

 dics,) which yearly build and breed at Norbury, in Staffordshire, on an island 

 in the middle of a great pool. A similar one occurs about two miles from 

 the shore of Morecombe Bay, and four from the east bank of the River 

 Wyre, on a damp marshy piece of ground, called Pilling Moss, the property 

 of T. Gardner Esq., of this town. 



Having selected a beautiful afternoon in the early part of May, we 

 crossed the river, and bent our steps towards the spot to which wc had been 

 dh'ected, having been kindly favoured by the proprietor with an order to visit 

 the colony whenever we might feel inclined. The day was all that could 

 have been desired for our excursion, the temperature of the atmosphere being 

 moderate; the caroling of the Larks as they rose from their grassy bed, and 

 the delightful melody poured forth by other songsters, together with all the 

 sweet influences of nature which combine on a spring day to please and to 

 delight, would have rendered gladsome hearts less light than ours. 



From observation and inquiry of the keeper, we gathered the following 

 facts, which I hope may prove not uninteresting to your readers. 



In the beginnitig of April, many thousands of these birds annually resort 



