330 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



and at the time of my visit formed a very flourishing 

 colony. These birds, however, did not long remain 

 undisturbed, for, on the erection, I think in 1855, of 

 the pumping- station of the Yarmouth v^aterworks, 

 which obtain their supply from this spot, they were 

 again banished. In the meantime the neighbourhood of 

 Hoveton had frequently been visited by parties of these 

 birds, and the late Mr. Blofeld told me that even as 

 early as the year 1817 he used frequently to see eggs of 

 the black-headed gull in the cottages. This was before 

 the inclosure of the common, and of course they re- 

 ceived no protection ; but it was not till 1854 that the 

 Hoveton gullery was really established, and in that year 

 about thirty nests were hatched off in the sedge-fen. 

 The birds, Mr. Blofeld told me, made their appearance 

 rather late in the season as if they had been disturbed 

 in some other locality, but, finding a safe home, in- 

 creased year by year. In 1858 Mr. Blofeld took seven 

 hundred eggs ; in 1864 two thousand ; and about the 

 same number annually for many years subsequent to 

 that date. No doubt at least as many might be taken 

 now, but I am informed that, with a view to encourag- 

 the colony, comparatively few eggs have been gathered 

 of late years. It will thus be seen that the establish- 

 ment of the Hoveton gullery very nearly coincides with 

 the banishment of the birds from Eollesby ; but the 

 Hoveton gulls were not to enjoy peaceable possession of 

 their new home ; the rats became an ever increasing pest, 

 and gradually the birds forsook the sedge-fen, where 

 they laid their eggs on the ridges left by the turf-cutters, 

 and betook themselves to the adjoining Little Broad, 

 about a mile and a-half from their original haunt, 

 till at the present time there are none of these birds 

 frequenting the sedge-fen, but all build their nests 

 on the broken-down reeds and bulrushes in the Little 

 Broad, a situation in all ways suited to their re- 

 quirements, and perfectly safe from all unauthorised 

 intruders, whether men or rats. Not so, however, if the 

 poor birds visit the river, which is all too close, for there 

 the British tourist swarms, and Mr. T. C. Blofeld, who 

 with the estate has inherited all his father's love for the 

 exquisite birds which lend so great a charm to its 



