600 LARID^. 



the gentry coming in from all parts to see the sport, the 

 manner thus : They pitch a rabbit net on the bank side, in 

 the most convenient place over against the hafts, the net in 

 the middle being about ten yards from the side, but close at 

 the ends in the manner of a bow. Then six or seven men 

 wade into the poole beyond the Pewits over against the net 

 with long staves, and drive them from the hafts, whence they 

 all swim to the bankside, and, landing, run like Lapwings 

 into the net, where people standing ready take them up and 

 put them into two penns made within the bow of the net, 

 which are built round, about three yards diameter and a yard 

 length, or somewhat better, with small stakes driven into the 

 ground in a circle, and interwoven with broom and other 

 raddle. In which manner there have been taken of them 

 in one morning fifty dozens at a driving. They commonly 

 appoint three days of driving them within fourteen days, or 

 thereabouts, of the 2ud and 3rd of June." Garner, who, in 

 his 'Natural History of the County of Stafford,' refers to 

 these Gulls having bred at Shebden Pool, near High Ofiley, 

 in Plot's time (1686), states, on the authority of Shaw 

 (Hist, and Antiq. Stafford, 1798), that there were none there 

 in 1794.* 



In Scotland the breeding-places are very numerous on the 

 mainland, and there are colonies on the larger islands as far 

 north as the Shetlands. Mr. Robert Gray mentions two 

 within easy reach of Glasgow ; one of them containing from 

 500 to 800 pairs, on a small marshy islet in Hairlaw Loch 

 — a patch of water, partly artificial, situated near Neilston 

 Pad, which is within full view of the city ; the other on the 

 island of Inchmoin in Loch Lomond. From the northern 

 districts it migrates to some extent during severe winters, 

 but on the whole it may be considered a resident species. 

 In Ireland it is, perhaps, the commonest of all the Gulls, 

 and numerous breeding-places are studded throughout the 

 country. Thompson mentions several colonies, but owing 

 to inundations and persecution the birds are in the habit of 

 shifting their quarters, and there is a lack of recent details. 

 * J. E. Harting, /. c. 



