PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 129 



it becomes more numerous, and not only do single pairs nest on the islands and 

 cliff-tops, but in some cases colonies of twenty or more pairs may be found breeding 

 together on the top of some lofty stack, especially in the Outer Hebrides, where, 

 as well as in St. Kilda, the Orkneys and Shetlands, it is locally common. It is 

 resident in small numbers on the Irish coasts, breeding on the tops of the stacks, 

 especially in the west, and there is one very large colony of at least 100 pairs 

 off the coast of Mayo. A few nests have also recently been recorded on islands 

 in lakes inland (British Birds, v. p. 139, etc.). Outside the British Isles it breeds 

 in the Faeroes and Iceland, while on the Continent a few nest in the north-west 

 of France, but there is no other known breeding-place nearer than the coasts of 

 Norway and Sweden, and on the inland lakes of Sweden, as well as on Gotland, 

 the Russian Baltic provinces and the south-west of Finland. In North Russia it 

 nests on the Kola Peninsula, the White Sea, the Kanin Peninsula, Kolguev, 

 and the Petchora delta. In N. America it breeds in Greenland to lat. 68, and 

 also in Labrador and the New England coast. The winter range extends to the 

 Canaries and Azores, as well as to the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas, 

 while on the American side it visits Bermuda and Florida. [F. c. B. J.] 



3. Migration. Resident. In winter the species becomes more generally 

 distributed, and there is some evidence of a regular migration with a southerly 

 trend. Nothing more definite is known. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The site of the nest is generally chosen with a view 

 to safety, and when found singly is often placed on some small islet in a loch, or 

 on the top of some isolated rock. Other species of gull are kept at a respectful 

 distance, but it does not object to the society of its own kind, and on the tops of 

 some of the more inaccessible stacks in Scotland and Ireland large numbers may 

 be found breeding close to one another. Thus on the Lyra Skerry in the Shetlands 

 about twenty-seven pairs breed together, but the numbers in this colony are far 

 eclipsed by those in the Irish colony referred to above. The nest resembles that of 

 the herring-gull and lesser blackback in appearance, being built of heather twigs, 

 seaweed, but more especially grasses torn up by the roots, thrift, etc. (PL XLVI.) 

 The eggs vary from two to three in number, 1 and normally range from pale stone 

 colour to brownish in ground-colour, boldly blotched with umber-brown and 

 different shades of ashy grey. Compared with eggs of the herring and lesser 

 blackbacked-gulls, they show much more of the ground-colour on an average, and 

 are more boldly marked, while a variety with bluish ground and very sparingly 



1 H. J. Pearson once found five eggs in a nest in Norway. 

 VOL. III. R 



