GULLS AND: TERNS: 29 
gliding, as it were, at the slowest pace imaginable. 
In the latter case, indeed, we are frequently, even 
against our will, forced to the conclusion that these 
birds must have at their command some unknown 
means or mechanism which prevents their sinking ; 
for neither is the surface-area of their wings large 
enough, nor are these organs sufficiently concave in 
form, to allow of their supporting the bird after the 
manner of a parachute.” I can endorse these 
remarks fully from my own observations (Conf. 
Idle Flours with Nature, pp. 261, 262). That 
these flights are accompanied with any vibratory 
movements of the feathers is erroneous, as I have 
had many opportunities of satisfying myself, 
especially when observing the flight of the Fulmar 
at St. Kilda, the birds then not being more than 
six feet away from me, when I am positive every 
individual feather was in perfect rest. 
But to return from this digression to the general 
habits of the Herring Gull. The breeding season 
of this Gull is in May and June. Owing to its 
remarkable aptitude for accommodating itself to the 
various peculiarities of the coast, it is certainly the 
‘most widely dispersed Gull of the British species 
during the season of reproduction. Perhaps its 
favourite breeding place is a low rocky island, but 
failing this it is equally at home upon a range of 
sea cliffs, a stack of rocks, or less frequently an 
island in a loch, or, as at Foulshaw Moss in West- 
moreland, a marsh. The nest is made on a ledge 
