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NATURAL History NOTES FROM ANNANDALE. 85 
most, if not all of the supply of black-headed gulls of Lower 
Annandale are bred. I give my notes upon the visit: 
“The day was showery, but never unpleasantly so, and the 
rain in no sense cooled the enthusiasm for what is, perhaps, one 
of the most interesting sights the field of nature affords. Save 
for the gulls themselves, the moor seemed wanting in bird life. 
An occasional blackcock rose from the marsh; the call of the 
curlew could be heard; and occasionally the carol of the sky- 
lark. Sometimes one or two of the gulls might be seen flying 
from the ploughed fields. The first nesting-place we came to 
was a little tarn or sheet of water, thickly covered with wet 
weeds. There were one or two nests at the margin; but the 
larger number, between thirty and forty in all, were practically 
afloat on the water. At a little distance we found the main 
colony of gulls, which again was divided into two large camps. 
Here the birds were in the air in thousands, screaming loudly as 
they dashed hither and thither above us, evidently distressed at 
our intrusion upon their homes. The nests were on the bare 
ground, all carelessly made of course stalks and lighter herbage 
from the muss. The nests were placed so closely together that 
we had to exercise some care not to tread upon the eggs. We 
found nests with one, some with two, others with three eggs, the 
last being the highest number in a clutch. Among the eggs 
themselves, there is great variety of colour and marking. Some 
have a very pretty greenish ground colour, marked with large 
blotches of brown, while others have a drab ground, with pencil- 
lings of dark brown. The sight of the black-headed gulls in 
nesting time is one not soon forgotten. 
“We saw two pairs of lesser black-backed gulls frequenting 
the moss. I understand they breed at a little distance from their 
more numerous congeners. In appearance they are much more 
sedate. The lesser black-backed gull usually nest on the shore. 
Their breeding upon Bowness Moss is, therefore, exceptional. 
Nesting with them, however, will not take place until later in the 
month of May. One is here reminded of the exception with re- 
gard to breeding haunts in the case of the oyster-catcher. It 
almost always builds on the seashore, that is beside salt water. 
Yet an exception to that rule is furnished by its nesting on the 
shores of the large fresh water lochs in Perthshire, Loch Katrine, 
Loch Vennacher, etc.’’ 
