CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN GULLS 



largest island wasabsolutely covered with eggs, laid in small 

 hollows scraped by the birds, with little pretensions to any 

 other kind of nest. I could scarcely walk without treading 

 on them. Close to the edge of the water, indeed, so near that 

 the nest was always wet, was the domicile of apairof black- 

 throateddivers,orloon,*withacouple of long greenish-col- 

 oured eggs. The old birds swam out to ashortdistance,and 

 watched me with great interest, uttering their strange hol- 

 low call. There were several smaller islands, or points of 

 rock, appearing above the water, on each of which a pair 

 of black-backed gulls had made their nest, constructed with 

 more careand skill thanthose of theirblack-headed cousins. 

 These large birds allowed none of the others to approach 

 them, and each couple kept undisputed possession of their 

 own particular kingdom, not joining in the same sociable 

 kindofsocietyasothergulls. When I approached the black- 

 backed gulls' nest, they didnot dash roundmelikethesmall- 

 erkind.but flewin circles at someheight,utteringaloudwar- 

 llke kind of shout, much like the voice of a human being. 

 The eggs of the black-headed gulls are exactly like those of 

 the common lapwing, andare equallygood eating ; so I took 

 home a great number, selecting them from the nests that 

 had only one or two eggs,knowing that the owners of these 

 would not have commenced sitting. I returned in a week. 



&• 



*The name "loon" (in Shetland "loom") is used in various districts to designate 

 several .species of diving birds. It is a Norse word, limr, signifying a melancholy cry, 

 and is applied in Iceland to the black-throated diver {Colymhus arcticm), and in Shet- 

 land to the red-throated diver (C. seftintrionalis), which is also called there the rain- 

 goos.:. ' ' Loon " is also a local name in the south for the great crested grebe, and turns 

 up again in the extreme north as used by Arctic navigators to denote the species of guil- 

 lemot (Alca arra), which, breeding in "loomeries" in prodigious numbers, provide 

 them with a welcome supply of fresh eggs. — Ed. 



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