278 THE COMMON GULL. 



its nests may be found on broken ground, or even on small 

 crags, yet flat surfaces are far more to its taste." Mr 

 Seebohm, in his British Birds, vol. iii. p. 317, states that 

 " the Common Gull {Larus canus) is intermediate in its 

 habits between the inland and marine species ; it breeds 

 indifferently on an island off the coast or on the cliffs of 

 the mainland, and is equally satisfied with an island on an 

 inland lake, or the banks of a mountain tarn." The fact 

 that the Common Gull {Larus canus) is not found breeding 

 on any part of the Berwickshire coast at the present day does 

 not prove that Mr. Selby and Mr. Hepburn — two well- 

 known and experienced ornithologists — were wrong in their 

 statements as to its breeding about St. Abb's Head in 1832 

 and 1851, for, like the Kittiwake, which formerly nested 

 there in large numbers, and is not now found breeding on 

 any part of the Berwickshire coast, it may have deserted 

 that locality as a breeding station. Mr. Hepburn states 

 distinctly that, when he visited St. Abb's Head on the 20 th 

 of June 1851, there was "a most extensive colony of Larus 

 Canus on the Earnsheugh, about two miles to the westward," 

 and that " their nests are placed on the grassy ledges." ^ 



On the 27th of September 1887 I wrote to Mr. Hep- 

 burn on the subject, and on the 4th of October following he 

 replied : " I beg to assure you that I adhere to the accuracy 

 of the statements contained in the article on ' Some of the 

 Mammalia and Birds found at St. Abb's Head,' Hist. Ber. 

 Nat. Cluh, vol. iii. p. 75, and I may add that I always found 

 Dr. Johnston a faithful and attentive editor of the papers 

 submitted to the Club ; also, that the Common Gull was a 

 frequent visitor to my native fields in the interior of East- 

 Lothian ; that the Herring Gull was common along the 

 sea-shore, and several pairs bred on the Bass Eock, and I 

 had in my early days three pets of this species," 



1 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. iii. p. 75. 



