430 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



ring Gulls are nesting there, and the 3'oung ones may 

 be seen about their nests, attended by the parent birds. 

 For some reason or other — probably for the want of 

 suitable ledges — the Herring Gulls do not appear to nest 

 on the abrupt faces of the cHffs, but in spots where land- 

 slips have occurred, and where slopes more or less covered 

 with verdure, but of a very steep incline, have formed amid 

 the cliffs. In selecting such breeding places the Herring 

 Gulls have, as might be expected, selected the more 

 inaccessible slopes, and as far as I could judge, walking 

 below the cliffs, I did not notice any occupied nesting- 

 places that an ordinary rock-climber would attempt, 

 without the aid of a rope from above. Great mortality 

 occurs amongst the young Gulls from the nests being 

 placed on these steep inclines, for the young, tempted 

 from their nests, lose their foothold on the slippery grass, 

 and slide and fall on to the beach below, where they are 

 abandoned by the parent birds. In the first week in 

 July of this year (1887), my companion and I counted 

 over fifty dead young ones in the course of our walk 

 along the base of the cliffs, and we saw two young 

 Herring Gulls lose their foothold and come down, trying 

 to save themselves with expanded feet and their little 

 apologies of wings extended ; they reached the beach 

 in safety, where we secured them, took them home, and 

 they are now flourishing in my companion's garden. 

 There is, however, one exception to the general rule 

 of these gulls breeding on the cliff-slopes, and that is 

 a few pairs making their nests on the gravel beach at 

 the base of the cliffs, just above the line of ordinary high 

 water. The spots available are very few and restricted 

 in area, and as they can be reached at low tide, these 

 nests are invariably plundered of the eggs. My com- 



