BLACK-HEADED GULL. 22$ 



scolding ; from this, or its habits in the fields, it is called the 

 "Sea-Crow." "Peewit-Gull," because it nests in marshes, is 

 another name. The idea that any of its calls are "laughing" 

 is strange ; they are often peevish or quarrelsome in tone, and 

 when a nesting colony is visited the angry kik, kik, kik, is 

 usually the prelude to a fierce swoop at the head of the visitor. 

 I have never been struck by the descending bird ; it has always 

 swept upward with fluttering wings, and a harsh screaming 

 kraah, a foot above my head. Since the passing of the Bird 

 Protection Bill in 1880, this gull has increased enormously, in 

 some measure owing to the checking of ruthless shooting of 

 young birds, but the eggs are still gathered for food, and 

 sold as " plovers' eggs " ; the adaptability of the species" is an 

 important factor. 



At all times the bird is sociable, consorting with waders and 

 other gulls on the shore, and with Lapwings, Golden Plovers, 

 and Rooks inland, but it is most gregarious in its nesting habits. 

 The marshy edge of a lake, or the islands and tussocks in a 

 shallow pool, are the most favoured nesting sites, and these 

 may be close to the shore or on the moors at over 1000 feet. 

 Some of the largest gulleries are on sandhills, where I have 

 seen nests thick in the marram ; one I have visited is on 

 saltings flooded by spring tides, but the birds persist in their 

 annual attempt in spite of repeated catastrophes. When a 

 gullery is approached the gulls rise and whirl overhead with an 

 angry and anxious clamour, the boldest making repeated 

 threatening dashes, but they soon quiet down. When watching 

 the gulls I have repeatedly seen a strange manoeuvre, also 

 noticed amongst terns ; suddenly the noisy bickerings will 

 cease, and the whole colony fly off in a cloud with a weird 

 hush ; in a few seconds the flock breaks up, the birds drift 

 back, and the normal clamour is resumed. I have seen three 

 of these departures in an hour. The nest is a mass of sticks, 

 sedges, rushes, or grass, often large when on wet ground ; it 



Series II. q 



