THE BLACK-HEADED GULL. 269 



loch, which extends to about twelve acres, is surrounded 

 by flat marshy ground on the north and west ; whilst a 

 fir wood of considerable size forms its southern boundary. 

 In summer the surface is almost completely covered with 

 sedges, rushes, and other aquatic plants, through which 

 broad lines of open water appear winding about. Here 

 the Black-headed Gull finds a congenial breeding place, 

 and on approaching the loch during the nesting season it 

 may be seen on the wing in immense numbers ^ wheeling- 

 round and round in circles over the swamp, while little 

 can be heard but its incessant cackling screams. The nests, 

 which are placed amongst the rough herbage of the loch, 

 are so numerous that it is said that upon one occasion 

 as many as sixty dozen of eggs were taken in a night 

 by people from the neighbouring farms, who sold them to 

 the district carrier for 4d. per dozen. The eggs vary in 

 number from two to three, and are greenish olive-brown, 

 blotched with dark umber. The Gulls generally begin to 

 return to the loch from the sea-side,^ where they have spent 

 the autumn and winter months, about the end of February 

 or beginning of March, and nesting operations commence in 

 May. The young, which are distinguished by grey marks 

 on their plumage, may be seen on the wing with their 

 parents in July, and towards the end of that month, or 

 in the beginning of August, the loch is deserted by the 

 Gulls, which then leave their breeding quarters and fre- 

 quent the sea-shore until the following spring. I have 

 been favoured by Mr. John Thomson with the following 

 account of Bemersyde Loch, which, as already mentioned, 

 is another breeding station of the Black-headed Gull in 



1 Mr. James Smail, referring to the Gulls at Legerwood Locli, says : " Wlien 

 startled from their nests they are so numerous that they rise on the wing like a 

 white cloud." — Hist. Ber. X^at. Club, vol. viii. p. 105. 



2 Mr. Hardy says that about Oldcambus the Black-headed Gull leaves the 

 coast in March and begins to return about the middle of July. — MS. Notes. 



