GULLS AND TERNS. 33 
secluded sea-lochs. These colonies of Common 
Gulls vary a good deal in size ; and in some districts, 
perhaps where suitable sites are scarce, the bird 
breeds in scattered pairs only. The eggs are laid 
during the last half of May and the first half of 
June; only one brood is reared in the season, but 
if the first eggs are taken they are generally replaced. 
The nest of this Gull varies much in size; some 
structures are mere hollows lined with a tuft or two 
of grass; others are more elaborate, composed of 
heather stems, pieces of turf, sea-weed, and stalks 
of marine plants, lined with finer grass, often 
gathered green. They are built indiscriminately 
amongst the long herbage, in hollows and crevices 
of rocks, or on ledges of the bare cliffs. In Norway 
the eggs of this Gull have been taken from the 
deserted nest of a Hooded Crow, in a pine tree, 
but no instances of a similar character have occurred, 
so far as is known, in our islands. The Common 
Gull usually lays three eggs, but instances of four 
are not rare. They run from olive-brown to buffish- 
brown in ground colour, spotted and often streaked 
with darker brown and brewnish-gray. The eggs 
of this Gull are extremely good eating. One 
often wonders why they are not gathered for 
the table, just as much as those of the Lapwing. 
KITTIWAKE. 
This charming Gull, the Larus tridactylus of 
scientists, so named from its entirely absent or 
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