THE HERRING GULL. 283 



Point, where they sit on the rocks, amongst their droppings 

 are large quantities of oat husks, mixed here and there with 

 mussels and limpets and shells of Purpura lapellus ; they 

 seem to feed much upon limpets, and hence frequent the 

 rocks where these are found." 



This Gull derives its common name from its habit of 

 following shoals of herrings, whose presence off shore is 

 indicated by its hovering over them in flocks, and every 

 now and then dropping to the water and capturing a fish, 

 reminding us of the following lines of Charlotte Smith : — 



And hosts of sea-birds, clamouring loud, 

 Scent with wild wing the welcome shoal, 

 Swift o'er the animated cuiTent sweep, 

 And bear their silver captives from the deep. 



Captain Norman, E.N., of Cheviot House, Berwick-on- 

 Tweed, has favoured me with the following interesting note : 

 " While walking along the cliff edge between Burnmouth 

 and Eyemouth on the 16th of August 1887 my attention 

 was arrested by the large number of Gulls which were 

 clustered at intervals along the coast. I suspected that 

 these birds marked the position of the fixed nets for salmon, 

 and that they were waiting for the appearance of an inshore 

 shoal of herring, which turned out to be the case. Taking 

 my station, binocular in hand, above the site of one of the 

 nets, I awaited the course of events. I had not long to 

 wait, for in a few minutes the water seemed quite alive with 

 silvery herrings, whose passage along shore had been inter- 

 rupted by the curtain of the net, or that part of it with 

 which the salmon first come into contact, and which turns 

 their course. The Gulls became very much excited, and 

 were soon in the midst of the shoal by hundreds." 



In winter and spring this species is occasionally seen in 

 the interior of the county, where it frequents the grass fields 

 and ploughed land to search for worms and grubs. Its 



