APPENDIX. 359 



Lesser Tern Sterna mimita, Linn. 



A rare summer visitant ; a pair visited the shore between Brora and 

 Kintradwell in 1871, and probably bred there ; they were also seen in 

 the same place in 1877. They have not been observed in the west to 

 our knowledge. 



Family 



Ivory Gull Pagophila eburnea (Phipps). 



Mr. Crawford of Tongue has a specimen that was killed at Scourie in the 

 winter of 1879-80. 



Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus (Lin. ) 

 Common, and resident on the east coast ; choosing some extremely 

 swampy place to breed in, inaccessible, as a rule, owing to the depth 

 of the surrounding mud. 



Entirely absent in the west. Seen following the harrows at Durness ; 

 but no breeding-place known to us in the neighbourhood. 



Little Gull Chroicocephalus minutus (Pallas). 

 Very rare visitant. The only specimen known to us is a dried-up mummy 

 that was picked up in a cart-rut near Balnacoil in the spring of 1874. 



Common Gull Larus canus, Linn. 



Eesident, and abundant the whole year round on the east coast ; like the 

 other gulls retiring to the hill lochs to breed. Usually they breed in 

 colonies like the black -headed gull. Breeding numerously in the west, 

 in colonies, on the islands of both sea and fresh water lochs. A very 

 tame bird of this species was well known to anglers on Loch Awe, 

 Assynt, in 1880, coming to be fed always at lunch-time. 



Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus, Linn. 



Resident, and common the whole year round on the east coast, but scarcer 

 in winter ; retiring to the hill lochs to breed ; rarely more than a pair 

 on a loch, if frequented by other gulls, and often choosing a solitary 

 island which they keep to themselves. Near Dornoch, however, we 

 understand there is a loch tenanted by a colony of these birds. Breeds 

 in a colony of about fifteen pairs on the summit of the Stack of Handa. 

 A far inland locality, where a single pair breeds, is at a loch-side near 

 Oykel Bridge. 



Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus, Linn. 

 Very common in summer, much less numerous in the winter. Breeds in 

 numbers about the hill lochs of the east coast, and often away from the 

 lochs on the flow ground. Less numerous now than ten years ago ; 

 and the same may be said of the species just mentioned, and also the 

 next in order, the herring gull, as the eggs are smashed and the young 

 killed on all possible occasions by the shepherds and gamekeepers, on 

 account of the damage they do. On some of the large flows in the centre 

 of the county gulls are now almost extinct, where ten years ago they 

 were abundant. Found generally mixing with herring gulls, where the 

 latter breed inland on the west, but occupying independent colonies 

 on the Badcall Islands, and on an island of Loch Scheanaskaig, in West 

 Cromarty. 



Herring Gull Larus argentatus, Gmel. 



Common all the year round on the coasts ; retiring in the east inland, to 

 breed, where it mixes with L. fuscus, the two species nesting side by 

 side. 



