122 NOTES ON TH !• BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



the nests, and others were cracking the shells and hatching, and 

 there were many eggs in pairs and single ones. 



I had landed from a boat at the far side of the creek, but 

 was not to pass unnoticed, for before long I was espied by Mr. 

 Cross of the adjoining farm, who came riding down across the 

 flats to see what I was doing, proving that any pillagers with 

 bad intent would with difficulty escape his keen watchful eye. 

 We two, however, had met before, and he readily forgave me my 

 intrusion on his property. 



On May 20th, he informed me, he had counted 60 nests of 

 Black-Headed Gulls upon the saltings, and he thought the birds 

 had certainly increased during the last year or two, although the 

 spring tides still wash and carry away many of the eggs. 



The gulls, he said, had now almost deserted the fresh water 

 fleets farther inland, amid the thick flags and weeds of which 

 they were formerly wont to make their nests, and nearly all of 

 them had migrated to the neighbouring saltings. 



I was much pleased with the account he gave, and left 

 Gullery No. 2 feeling well satisfied with the condition of affairs ; 

 sailing the next day to \\'est Mersea where I hoped to encounter 

 on ToUesbury Marshes a similar pleasant experience. 



But I am sorry to say there were no gulls there this year 

 (igoi). In 1898 there were only a very few, in 1899 there was a 

 good-sized colony, on one of the large fresh water fleets, but the 

 spring of 1901 was a remarkably dry one, and already early in 

 June the water was extremely low in the ponds and ditches. 

 This might account for the desertion of the birds, but my own 

 impression is, as I have said before, that the gulls are reverting 

 to an old habit, and prefer nesting on the saltings, and doubtless 

 the colony from ToUesbury had followed suit. There was not a 

 Black-fieaded Gull to be seen on those drearv level flats, and I 

 spent the best part of an afternoon in a fruitless search ; so 

 Gullery No. 3 must be erased this year out of my list, and very 

 probably will not appear again. 



The result then of these investigations for 1901 consists in 

 my being able to report, that two strong Gulleries, instead of 

 three, are still flourishing in the count}-, with eyery promise that 

 they will thrive and further increase in the future ; my only 

 regret being that Gullery No. i in Hamford Water can boast of 



