Notes on the Bivds which Inhabit Scotton Common. 109 
and “ flashes” about the Common. Most of the birds occupy a 
shallow irregular piece of water of small extent, on one side of 
which is a thick growth of bracken, and the nests are placed 
among the rushes at the margin, in which case they are fairly 
substantial structures, or on the small islets which here and there 
appear above the water, nesting materials in these cases being 
almost dispensed with. The usual complement of eggs is three, 
but I have found six in one nest, possibly the produce of two 
female birds, and it is not very unusual to find four eggs in the 
same nest. The eggs of this species vary greatly in shape, size 
and colouring, the two extremes resembling in colour and marking 
eggs of the Jackdaw and dark specimens of those of the Herring 
Gull. Early in March the birds begin to arrive in small numbers 
at their breeding quarters from their Winter haunts on the mud- 
flats of the Humber and the sea coast. At first most of their time 
is spent in following the ploughmen at work in the neighbouring 
fields, and scrambling for the worms and grubs laid bare by the 
ploughshare. Doubtless they often vary their diet, and once [| 
noticed quantities of dismembered and partially devoured toads 
round the ponds, which I set downas the work of the gulls, though 
I had no direct proof that such was thecase. The time for egg- 
laying depends somewhat upon the forwardness of the season, but 
the first eggs are usually laid during the first fortnight of April, 
the young appearing in the middle of May. Some of the birds 
are very bold if their young are handled, and more than once a 
screaming parent has swoopcd down upon me and struck me 
sharply on the back of my head. As soon as the young can fly 
their parents take them away to the coast, and not a bird of this 
species will be seen on the ponds after the close of July. Anyone 
visiting a large colony of these gulls for the first time will not 
easily forget the occasion. ‘The whirling white wings above, the 
incessant almost deafening screams and laughing notes of the 
birds, and the numerous downy chicks floating on the water or 
crouching among the reeds, all help to form a lasting impression 
upon the mind. Local Naturalists should be thankful that at 
least three such colonies are to be found in our own County. 
[have met with six species of DueKs on the Common, and 
