HERRING GULL. 679 



Whitby High Lights, where several hundred pairs breed in 

 comparative security, although the birds nesting at and near 

 Gin Hole (Staithes) were much harried by foxes between the 

 years 1895 and 1900 ; their enemies had access to the ledges 

 where the nests were placed, whence they carried off both 

 eggs and young birds. I have found eggs partly buried in 

 the potato plots at the top of the cliffs where the foxes had 

 taken them, and this persecution caused the birds to remove 

 their quarters nearer the west part of Boulby, at which place 

 in 1902 they were more numerous than had ever before 

 been known, whilst the " Gin Hole " locality was almost 

 deserted. In 1900 two pairs appropriated sites at the highest 

 part of the cliff, 660 feet, and have nested there since that 

 year. At Kettleness the species is as abundant as ever, 

 two or three hundred pairs occupying that station, at which 

 upwards of a thousand eggs were gathered by Whitby fisher- 

 men in the season of 1903 ; the Huntcliffe colony also main- 

 tains its standing of about twenty to thirty pairs. 



The Herring Gull pairs very early in the year, in mild 

 seasons so soon as the first week of January, and it resorts 

 to the nesting cliffs towards the end of February or beginning 

 of March. The young are on the wing in the first or second 

 week of July, and they and their parents leave the cliffs 

 about mid-August. 



In the autumn a considerable addition is made to the ranks 

 of the resident stock by immigrants from other parts, and in 

 strong north and north-east gales they are observed passing 

 up the coast in continuous flocks, sometimes for days together ; 

 a similar movement is noticed at Spurn and Flamborough, 

 the direction of flight being usually from east to west. A 

 large proportion of immature birds remain throughout the 

 summer in the estuaries of the Tees and the Humber. 



The Herring Gull is occasionally met with in localities 

 far removed from its accustomed haunts, having been obtained 

 in the centre of the county, and in the dales of the north-west ; 

 possibly these are storm-driven birds or else are in transit 

 from one coast to the other. In the neighbourhood of the 

 coast line it visits the tillage land, often consorting with Rooks, 



VOL. II. X 



