Their Eggs and Nests. 189 



in thousands, is on Scoulton Mere, in Norfolk ; an- 

 other at Pallinsburn, in Northumberland ; and a third, 

 in Lincolnshire, not far from Brigg. They have, 

 within the last few years, bred in some* numbers at 

 Lockerdam, near Bolton Castle, in Wensieydale. The 

 nests are made of sedges, grass, and the flowering 

 part of the reed, and are not very deeply cup-shaped. 

 The bird lays three eggs, and there is a very great 

 degree of variation between them in respect of colour 

 and markings ; the ground colour being sometimes of 

 a light blue or yellow, and sometimes green, or red, or 

 brown. Some, too, are thickly covered with spots, 

 and others scarcely marked with a single speckle or 

 spot. In more than one of their great breeding-places 

 the right of gathering the eggs was rented, and some- 

 times upwards of a thousand eggs collected in a single 

 day. When the first laying of eggs is taken, a second 

 batch, and even a third, is produced ; but in each 

 successive instance, the eggs become less. They are 

 used as the Pewit's eggs are, and al.^o for culinary 

 purposes. — Fig. ^, plate XL 



THE GREAT BLACK-HEADED GULL— (Z^r/^^ 



ichthycutus). 



One or two specimens only. 



COMMON GVh-L—{Lartis canus). 



Winter Mew, Sea Mew, Sea Mall or Maw, Sea Gull, 

 Sea Cob, Cob. — This Gull is, on the whole, sufficiently 

 general and well known on all parts of our coast to 

 merit the ])refix of Common, which is usually applied 

 to it For though it is essentially a sea-bird, yet 



