258 OUR RARER BIRDS 



the coast. Considerable numbers of this fine bird breed on 

 the stacks and cliffs of St. Kilda, some of them doing so 

 amongst the colonies of Gannets and Fulmars. This bird is 

 also hated by the St. Kildan, its proneness to carry off the 

 eggs of the sacred Fulmar being in his eyes a capital offence. 

 Colonies of this bird frequently establish themselves some 

 distance from the open sea, on islands in quiet lochs and 

 tarns. 



The nest of the Lesser Black-backed Gull varies a good 

 deal in size even in the same colony of birds. Usually it is 

 rather a bulky structure, made of pieces of turf, branches of 

 heather, and leaves and stalks of sea-campion, finally lined 

 with grass. The nests are poorly made, very flat, and but 

 little art is displayed in concealing them. Where a natural 

 hollow in the ground has been selected, only a little dry grass 

 is arranged by way of lining, and many nests in the crevices 

 and crannies of the rocks are small, and very loosely and 

 slovenly arranged. The eggs are three or four in number, 

 and differ in colour in a most remarkable manner. Usually 

 the eggs in a nest are pretty uniform in colour, but it is by 

 no means uncommon to find one of quite a different type 

 among the rest. In a heap of perhaps twenty thousand eggs 

 lying before me, pale green, bluish-white, dark olive -brown, 

 pale brown, buff, and gray constitute the ground colours, and 

 the spots and blotches vary from dark liver-brown to pale 

 brown and gray. Some eggs are streaked almost like those 

 of a Bunting, others are finely marked over the entire surface; 

 whilst others, yet again, are boldly blotched, or have most of 

 the markings in a zone round the larger end. The eggs of 

 this Gull can be confused with those of the Common Gull 

 and the Herring Gull, but as a rule those of the former 

 species are much smaller, whilst those of the latter are on 

 an average considerably larger, and the markings take more 

 the form of spots rather than blotches. The Lesser Black- 



