THE TERNS, GULLS, AND SKUAS. 281 



guillemots, which would disappear on business and return 

 at a safe distance from the larger fowl that might have 

 resented the intrusion. I tried this many days, and 

 always with the same results, for the question of gulls 

 being able or not able to dive has an interest in con- 

 nection with the harm they are alleged to do the fisheries, 

 a matter to which I may have to allude on a later page. 

 The nest is sometimes near the ground. Those who have 

 seen only casual breeding -sites associate the birthplace of 

 these birds with inaccessible clifi"s and crannies ; but some 

 of our most famous guUeries — for instance, the Lincoln 

 colonies at Scotton and Twigmore — are in low flat situ- 

 ations in the immediate neighbourhood of ponds. Eggs^ 

 3, nearly 3 inches ; pale brown, with dark blotches. 



The Black-headed, or "Laughing," Gull is another of 

 our common species, and is familiar nowadays even to 

 Black- Londoners, as some are generally to be seen 

 headed in the winter months above Waterloo Bridge. 

 It breeds on several parts of our coasts, more 

 particularly in Scotland and Ireland. I recollect one arm 

 of the Baltic, not far from a large wood inhabited by wild 

 swine, where these birds bred in hundreds, and the eggs 

 were easily obtained, being, in fact, on the ground. The 

 name of this gull is not much nearer the mark than that 

 of the last, for in the first i:)lace the head is white in 

 winter, and even in summer it is dark-brown, not black. 

 Xor can its voice be considered more like laughter than 

 that of several other members of the genus. Like many 

 of the rest, it is partial to wireworms, and I saw these 

 gulls on more than one occasion catching mice in some 

 fields east of Bognor. Eggs, 3? 2 1 inches; light brown, 

 with dark blotches. 



Mediterra7iean G\dl has been obtained once or twice — 

 in the eastern counties. 



Great Black-headed Gidl. — A southern straggler that has 

 been obtained once. 



