CATALOGUE OF BIEDS. 171 



our defects were made good, the storm had abated 

 sufficiently for us to make a second attempt. 



The girls, who had crouched at the bottom of the 

 boat, presented a most ludicrous appearance, being 

 drenched to the skin with a mixture that resembled 

 egg-flip, the whole of their spoil, consisting of several 

 hundred gulls' eggs, having been smashed and beaten 

 up into a kind of custard with the water that had 

 broken on board. Some meat and drink, and the- 

 attentions of two or three sturdy keepers, eventually put 

 fresh life into the disconsolate maidens ; but when they 

 took their leave in the gloaming, it was hard to recognise 

 in the three bedraggled tramps the bright-looking 

 lassies that had met us in the morning. 



There is no doubt but that this species is very 

 destructive to game and their eggs. I have during 

 spring often trapped them on the moors in Perthshire, 

 using as a bait either eggs or flesh. In Ross-shire, 

 Sutherland, and Caithness, where their numbers are far 

 greater, the loss that they cause to the game-preservers 

 must be very considerable. 



At the time of the bringing out of the Sea Bird Act 

 it was stated that gulls were of great assistance to the 

 fishermen, by showing them the position of the fish, and 

 so guiding them to the best spots for shooting their 

 nets. This all looks very pretty and interesting in 

 print, but I have yet to learn that the Sea-gull is a 

 favourite with the fishermen. 



When the shoals of mackerel arrive off the south 

 coast in the spring of the year, scores of boats are 

 engaged in watching for the fish to come to the surface ; 

 they then row rapidly to the spot, and shooting a net 

 round them, frequently enclose large numbers. Should 



