OTHER BIRDS 93 



Bollin meadows towards Dunham, but no 

 nest was found. In 1911 they were there 

 again, and the keeper found a nest not far 

 from the Fox-cover, but I think he must have 

 told too many of his friends about it, for 

 within a week of the eggs being hatched it 

 was deserted. 



I very well remember a good many years 

 ago, though I can find no note of the exact 

 year, that I saw a black tern flying backwards 

 and forwards like a swallow over a wet spot 

 in the corner of the garden, and the next day 

 I saw what was probably the same bird 

 flying in the same way over a large farmyard 

 pit close by the road, about a mile from here. 



Since the Ship Canal has been opened 

 gulls have been among the most frequent 

 and the most noticeable of all birds in these 

 parts. Whenever a field is ploughed up, 

 however far it may be from the canal, there 

 you are sure to find gulls, and when the 

 plough is at work in the fields opposite, which 

 are close to its banks, the gulls come in 

 crowds and form one long white line as the 

 furrows are turned, the birds continually 

 rising before the plough and settling down 

 again when it has passed. I have identified 

 black-headed and lesser black-backed gulls 

 among them, but have never attempted to 

 decide to what species the majority belong. 

 Indeed, I do not feel very competent to do 

 so, having always found it sufficiently difficult 



