BLACK-HEADED GULL. 435 



eggs are sold on the spot at the rate of fourpence a score, 

 and are regularly sent in considerable quantities to the mar- 

 kets at Norwich and Lynn. They are eaten cold, like Lap- 

 wings' eggs, and also used for culinary purposes ; but they 

 are rather of an inferior quality, and somewhat like ducks' 

 eggs in flavour. The person who sells these eggs gives 

 fifteen pounds a year for the privilege of collecting them. 

 This species of Gull never lays more than three eggs the first 

 time ; but, if these are taken, it will lay again. We found 

 many of the old birds sitting in the middle of June ; most of 

 these had only one egg in the nest, but a few of them had 

 two. Their nests are made of the tops of reeds and sedge, 

 and are very flat at the surface. The eggs vary so much in 

 size, shape, and colour, that a person not well acquainted 

 with them would suppose some of them to belong to a dif- 

 ferent species of bird. Some are thickly covered with dusky 

 spots, and others are of a light blue colour without any spots 

 at all. The young birds leave the nest as soon as hatched, 

 and take to the water. When they can fly well the old ones 

 depart with them, and disperse themselves on the sea coast, 

 where they are found during the autumn and winter. By 

 the middle of July they all leave Scoulton, and are not seen 

 there again till the following spring. We were a little sur- 

 prised at seeing some of these Gulls alight and sit upon some 

 low bushy willows which grow on the island. No other than 

 the Brown-headed Gull breeds at this mere ; a few of them 

 also breed in many of the marshes contiguous to the sea- 

 coast of Norfolk." 



Charles Anderson, Esq., sent me notice of another breed- 

 ing-place in Lincolnshire, frequented annually by many hun- 

 dreds of this species. This is at Twigmoor, near Brigg— an 

 estate belonging to Sir John Nelthorpe, of Scawby. It con- 

 sists chiefly of warren ground, partly covered with heather, 

 dwarf shrubs, and birch trees. Li the centre of this is a 



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