THE BLACK-HEADED GULL. 273 



not from the feathers altering in hue. This happens earlier 

 or later, just as the spring is early or late. In 1877 I 

 observed many Gulls with the brown tinge quite as distinct 

 in the end of January as I did this year at the end of 

 February, and precisely in the same way does the weather 

 affect their departure from the sea-side to their inland haunts. 

 In warm springs they go away early ; in cold they remain 

 three or four weeks later with us. Some individuals put on 

 their dark head-dress earlier than others, and these are the 

 first to take their departure. The moult itself begins on the 

 occiput, and spreads over the top and sides of the head ; and 

 the slaty-black feathers behind the eye are also shed, and 

 replaced by the sooty-black feathers common to the whole 

 head." 1 



Mr. Eobert Gray mentions that an albino Black-headed 

 Gull of pure spotless white was shot near Cockburnspath in 

 1874. 2 Amongst former breeding quarters of the Black- 

 headed Gull in the county, which are now deserted, the 

 following may be mentioned : Billie Mire, 3 the " Hen Poo " 4 



i Hist. Ber. Nat Club, vol. viii. p. 531. 2 Ibid. vol. vii. p. 466. 



3 Mr. Alexander Nisbet, rabbit-catcher, Chirnside, informed me on the 22nd of 

 May 1886 that he was born at Blanerne in 1819, and that Mr. John Allan, Billie 

 Mains (father of Mr. John Allan of Peelwalls), had frequently told him that when 

 he (Mr. John Allan, sen. ) was a boy he iised sometimes to wade into the water at 

 Billie Mire for Picmaws' or Pickies' eggs. This would be about the beginning of 

 this century. 



4 Mr. William Duns, Duns, told me on the 20th of May 1886 that, down to 

 about 1835, thousands of Pictarnies used to frequent the "Hen Poo" in the 

 breeding season ; and that about 1825, when St. Mary's Cottage at the north end 

 of the lake was being built, the workmen engaged at the cottage used to place a 

 long ladder between the edge of the water and the islands on which the Gulls had 

 their nests for the purpose of procuring the eggs, which they ate. The islands 

 were completely covered with the nests, and great baskets of eggs were collected and 

 brought to Duns. Some years after this the late Mr. Hay caused fires to be kept 

 burning on the islands during the nesting time of the Gulls, and this had the effect 

 of completely driving the birds away. Mr. Hay did this because he disliked the 

 great noise which they made by their screams when they were flying in clouds 

 over the lake. It must have been subsequent to 1842 when the Gulls were 

 banished, for I find Mr. Hardy in his MS. Notes writing in June of that year as 

 follows: "At this period the Pickies or Pictarnies built in abundance on one 

 island in the ' Hen Poo ' at Duns Castle, and that the eggs were taken by using a 

 boat to reach the island." 



VOL. II. S 



