BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT. 343 
hard weather of 1892-3 I watched several within a few feet of a 
window in the Chester Infirmary feeding on the scraps thrown 
out to them. 
It is abundant on the coast, and follows up the rivers far 
inland. 
Amongst a flock congregated about the Woodside Landing 
Stage, Birkenhead, on February 17th, this-year (1894), several 
had already assumed their brown hoods. 
In Cheshire it breeds certainly in one spot in Delamere Forest 
[L.G.] 
In Denbighshire, Mr. R. H. Venasies KyrkeE tells me that 
it breeds in the neighbourhood of Nant-y-ffrith. 
In Flintshire its nest was found on the Sandhills, near the 
Point of Air, about the year 1870, by Str Pyers Mostyn, who 
put the bird up off her nest and took the two eggs, which he 
has presented to the Grosvenor Museum. 
In the Merionethshire slip, the history of the establishment 
of a colony near Palé, must be related in Mr. Ruppy’s own 
words :— 
“Two pairs of this species nested for the first time in 1888, 
on a small moorland lake near Llanderfel, nine miles from 
Corwen. Tiny islands were formed by the recent enlargement 
of the lake, and on these the birds found a safe retreat, the 
margin of the lake being very boggy and difficult of approach. 
Ten pairs nested there the following year, and they were more 
than doubled in 1890; there was quite a large colony there in 
1893. I once observed them mobbing a heron; they met it on 
‘its way to the lake, kept darting at it and screaming loudly until 
they drove it off. They also met. me on my approach to the 
lake, and with continual loud screams darted at me from a 
considerable height, until within a couple of yards from me; 
then would sweep up again with a graceful curve so as to renew 
the attack.” 
The great variety in shape, size, and colour of the eggs of 
this species is well known.. I selected a few clutches to illusirate 
this from a colony on a small island in Lough Corrib, co. Galway, 
where I chanced to stop for lunch while fishing, on June 23rd, 
1892. In one nest were three eggs of a pale bluish green 
colour, absolutely devoid of markings; in another, a similar 
egg was laid, together with two of a usual type. 
* Larus canus. Common GuLL. 
Common on our shores in autumn and winter, and frequently 
seen inland in rough weather. 
“Very common round the shores” of Wirral, ‘except in 
the nesting season.” (Br. p. 6.) 
