124 BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 



the ground colour is of a light yellow or green, and 

 the marks of a light brown. They also vary greatly 

 in size and shape, some being pear-shaped, re- 

 sembling those of the Green Plover, and others 

 almost as round as those of the tawny Owl. 



It is noticeable that the old and experienced 

 birds choose for a nesting site those portions 

 of the swamp which are most difficult of access ; 

 whereas the young and inexperienced Gulls often 

 construct their nests where they are harried as 

 soon as a single egg has been deposited in them, 

 and this is continued until the mother birds are 

 compelled by sad experience to make their homes 

 in a less accessible position. 



When the nesting site is approached, the Gulls 

 rise in a crowd while the intruder is yet a good dis- 

 tance away and circle round his head, uttering all the 

 while their harsh grating note, not so very unlike 

 the " Craw " of the Hoodie Crow. Sometimes a 

 parent bird more zealous than usual will swoop at 

 the intruder's head ; but generally he loses courage 

 before he has actually struck the object of his 

 anger. The Black-headed Gull rarely attacks if 

 you are facing him, and it is amusing to wheel 

 sharply round and note how suddenly he shoots 

 upward as you turn your face towards him. 



It is a very regrettable fact that within recent 

 years gamekeepers have laboured under the de- 

 lusion that the Black-headed Gull steals the eggs 

 of the Grouse and other game-birds dear to the 

 preserver's heart, and so, in open defiance of the Wild 

 Birds Protection Act, which renders it illegal to 

 kill this bird during the nesting season, they 

 destroy numbers both by shot and poison. 

 I know personally of several swamps, that 



