MANX ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES. 303 



four slightly incubated eggs. The following day 

 these were accidentally broken, but on the 23rd of 

 the same month there was another nest with four 

 eggs on the same bank near the old site. This is the 

 first record of the breeding of the species in the 

 Isle of Man. In 1911 the birds were at the place 

 on April 15th, and subsequently. No nest was found, 

 and Graves thinks the birds did not breed this year. 

 The species occurs commonly on spring and autumn 

 migration, both inland and on the coast. Graves 

 has seen a party of twenty to thirty at White Strand, 

 near Peel. 



Common Tern {Sterna fluviatilis). — ^Regarding a small 

 colony in the Island, see Mr. M. V. Wenner in British 

 Birds, Vol. V., p. 80. On July 5th in the same 

 year the nesting-place, which is subject to much 

 disturbance, seemed to have been forsaken by all 

 Terns. 



Herring-Gull {Larus argentatus). — This very abundant 

 bird is extending its breeding-range. Mr. F. A. 

 Craine has pointed out a comparatively recent colony 

 on Clay Head, and of late years there have been a 

 few nests on Lang Ness. The species is now in strong 

 disfavour among farmers. Some even assert that it 

 destroys new-born lambs. Ralfe has seen wild 

 Herring-Gulls feed from a dish held in a lady's hands 

 at Castletown. 



Great Black-backed Gull {Larus marinus). — In July, 

 191 1, a pair flying around an isolated stack on the west 

 coast behaved in such a way as to make it almost 

 certain that there were young in the neighbourhood. 

 There were empty and trodden-down nests on this 

 stack. In spite of repeated assertions, the species 

 has not yet been proved to breed in Man. At 

 Christmas-time, 1911, Ralfe saw about thirty with 

 Herring-Gulls on Ramsey shore ; at least twenty 

 were mature birds. 



Great Skua {Megalestris catarrhactes). — On February 

 25th, 1910, a specimen was caught on a baited hook 

 seven or eight miles off Maughold Head, by fishermen 



