THE GULL. 387 



Esq. It contains within its banks about seventy acres, nearly 

 thirty of which are occupied by a large island, consisting of 

 about eighteen acres of remarkably fine reeds, in great request 

 for thatching; two or three acres of broad flag, as much of 

 coarse grass, mixed with a small quantity of fine sedge, and 

 about sixteen in the centre, where the island is firmly attached 

 to the bottom, are occupied by birch brushwood, out of which 

 rise birch-trees, from thirty to forty feet in height, not one 

 of which has ever been blown down by the gales, which often 

 make sad havoc with the oaks and other trees. It is on this 

 island chiefly that the Gulls breed, a few only wandering to 

 smaller pieces of water in the neighbourhood. The produce 

 of the island being valuable, is completely cleared off in the 

 course of the winter, except the brushwood and trees ; so that 

 in the early spring it is in a very convenient state for the 

 accommodation of the birds, the details of whose operations 

 are as follows. 



About the middle of February, for an hour or two in the 

 course of the day, their well-known cry may be heard, high in 

 the air, proceeding from a few stragglers. This goes on till 

 about the end of the month, when, and in the first days of 

 March, they appear in detachments of about fifty, flying near 

 to the water, but never alighting upon it, being apparently 

 occupied in reconnoitring, and departing after an hour or two. 

 In a few days the numbers increase to detachments of about 

 three or four hundred, but still departing after they have 

 made their observations. Invariably, however, about the 8th 

 of March, they come in thousands, settle upon the water, and 

 take possession of the island. 



The people on the spot have learned from their fathers, and 

 it is confirmed by their own observation, that the day after 

 Hingham fair, which is on the 7th March, is that on which 

 the Scoulton Pies, as they call them, come to the mere. They 

 are, as one of their local names, "the Laughing Gull," im- 

 plies, garrulous and noisy birds, being rarely silent for more 

 than one hour out of the twenty-four. In about a fortnight 

 they pair and begin to build ; their nests are very simple, a 

 few cross pieces of the softer remnants of the reeds and grass, 



