BLACK-HEADED GULL 157 



brown. One beautiful variety has been described, the ground 

 colour a very light greenish white, blotted with two shades 

 of rich brown. 



The young birds soon leave the nest and betake them- 

 selves to the water. 



Sir William Jardine writes : " They are particular in the 

 choice of a breeding-place, at least some which we would 

 think suited for them are passed or deserted, and others 

 more unlikely are selected. We possess a reedy loch 

 which was for many years a haunt of these birds, but the 

 edges were planted and they left it ; ten years afterwards, 

 and when the plantation had grown up, a few pairs re- 

 turned, and in time increased to a large colony, when an 

 artificial piece of water had been made by damming up a 

 narrow pass in an extensive muir, nearly two miles distant ; 

 thither the Gulls resorted the following spring, leaving their 

 ancient ground ; and they have been increasing in numbers 

 for some years past." 



Both parents sit on the eggs, and one brood only is 

 reared during the season. 



