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— the Greater Blackbacked, the Lesser Blackliackeil, Herrmg Gull, 

 Common Gull, Kittiwake, and Blackheaded — all of which, found more or 

 less in the estuary at all seasons, are included in the ju-esent Wild 

 Birds Protection Act, with the exception of the first. The Greater 

 Blackbacked (a veritable black sheep among Gulls), noAV excluded, 

 and especially mentioned as such- — and perhaps rightly so, from his 

 carnivorous and plundering disposition — is a large and powerfid liird, 

 with a stretch of wing of over five feet from tip to tip, and is not 

 particular as he roams along the hillside near his breeding grounds as 

 to what he takes — whether it be a bit of dead sheep or a live lamb, 

 which he will at once attack and devour. His propensities, also, 

 in these expeditions for young hares, rabbits, and grouse, as well as 

 their eggs, make him no friend of the ganiekeejier. He is, however, 

 during nesting time too far removed from us to do much injury in that 

 respect, his nearest breeding grounds to the Tay lieing the Isle of May 

 and the Bass. By far the commonest of our Tay Gulls is the Black- 

 headed, which is more of an inland species, nesting in large colonies 

 on our lochs and marshes, choosing some unapproachable spot for the 

 purpose, accessible only to the egg-gatherer by means of a boat ; and 

 this being under the control of the proprietor, the birds, after a limited 

 gathering, are eventually allowed to hatch out their brood in peace. 

 Hence its numbers. Could only a regulation of this sort be established 

 for other species, in which a limited number of the first sittings alone 

 should be taken, and a certain date fixed after which the birds shoiild 

 be left unmolested, we should have plenty of eggs, minus the complaints 

 we now hear. Though, as I have said, the Blackheaded Gull breeds 

 with us more commonly inland, he is also found to be occasionally 

 doing so nearer the sea, as Mr Henderson, of Dundee — to whom I am 

 indebted and have to thank for much interesting and valuable in- 

 formation as to the breeding of our birds on the Links of Barry and the 

 lower parts of the Tay — informs me of a few nesting there every seasoii. 

 The little Kittiwake, again, one of the most lovely of our Gulls, is a 

 decided marine species. Though common on the lower parts of the 

 estuary, abounding in our harbours, and assuming the part of a most 

 useful scavenger, he seldom leaves the salt water, formerly nesting in 

 prodigious numbers, as I hope he may do again, on all our higher 

 maritime cliffs (but now much thinned), his nearest breeding-places to 

 us being the Isle of May, the Bass, and the Eed-Head. About the 

 years 1867 and 1868, so great was their destruction at breeding-time, 

 when in their finest plumage, and so great was the demand for them in 

 that state, owing to the unhappy and then universal practice of wearing- 

 birds' Avings in ladies' hats, that the attention of the public was at last 



