152 THE GULLS 



lies the grassy peninsula of Tipper, where avocets, dunlin, redshanks, 

 ruffs, and a few godwit breed. To give some idea of the numbers of 

 birds breeding in this sanctuary, we may state that in 1900 Rambusch 

 estimated the number of blackheaded-gulls at about 10,000, Sandwich- 

 terns at 4000, while there were also large colonies of gullbilled- 

 terns, as well as common and Arctic-terns, on this one island alone. 

 On landing, careful observation results in the discovery of about ten 

 pairs of little-gulls among the whirling crowd of snowy forms over- 

 head. There is not the slightest difficulty in distinguishing them on 

 the wing when once seen : in full breeding plumage the black head 

 and small size, as well as the white tipped primaries, render them 

 unmistakable. Their notes, too, are very characteristic. Henrici 

 compares the cry to that of the redshank, though the comparison 

 seems rather fanciful, and writes it as " kei keikei-keikei-keikei-keikei, 1 

 etc., often repeated twenty to forty times in succession, so that when 

 several birds are calling together, the result is quite a concert in the 

 air. They are most noisy when dashing about in small flocks close to 

 the ground or playing about at a great height in the air in fine 

 weather, and the penetrating sound can be heard above the deafen- 

 ing babel caused by the creaking notes of the terns and the deeper 

 cries of the blackheaded-gulls. Other notes described by the same 

 writer are a low " tok, tok, tok" while resting, or a softly uttered 

 "kie, kie" (or ke, ke, ke) in flight. They are sociable birds, and in 

 early spring are generally to be seen in small flocks. Sometimes 

 they ascend to such a height that they are scarcely visible, and 

 only the frequently uttered call-note enables us to detect their 

 presence. 



The nests must be sought for in the wettest part of the island. 

 Here on the 'slob-land,' overgrown with clumps of rushes, may be 

 found the nests, which look like miniature blackheaded-gulls' nests. 

 On Klaegbanken Christensen noticed that they were built of coarse 

 stalks, which must have been brought by the birds from some distance. 



1 Pronounced in English kayet, knyet, kayed, etc. 



