324 BIRDS OP NORFOLK. 



rous there on the 7th ; still the main body of them had 

 not then arrived." In another place Mr. Salmon says 

 that the black-headed gulls, when at Stanford, visited 

 Fowlmere, on Wretham heath, about two or three miles 

 distant, early every morning and late in the evening 

 during their stay at Stanford, but that they had never 

 been known to breed nearer the latter mere than Stanford 

 (as to this see p. 236). On June 15th, 1834, Mr. Salmon 

 writes, " I walked to Stanford warren this afternoon to 

 see the gulls. There are some thousands of birds ; 

 several of the nests had young ones, none exceeding 

 three. I should say they never exceed three eggs in a 

 nest. . . . The men appointed to take the eggs 

 still gather them for sale ; they make threepence per 

 dozen of them. I understand they will be gathered all 

 this month." 



On March 19th, 1835, he says the gulls had arrived 

 at the warren four days ago, and on a subsequent visit, 

 on the 10th May, he found they had been laying rather 

 more than a fortnight. " I find the person who collects 

 their eggs leaves a few of them to hatch their first eggs, 

 and when that is the case the same pair of birds does not 

 breed any more that season. . . . The old bird com- 

 mences sitting as soon as the first egg is laid, conse- 

 quently they place stones, rotten eggs, &c., for them to 

 lay to as nest eggs till the complement is laid." July 

 12th : " Mr. Chambers informs me that the black-headed 

 gulls have left the pond at Stanford warren more than a 

 week." 



March 18th, 1836. "The black-headed gulls have 

 arrived at Stanford warren during the past week, but 

 not to remain for the night." 



May 3rd, 1837. "In the evening rode over to Stan- 

 ford warren. The gulls appear very unsettled, although 

 tolerably numerous. A few pairs have commenced lay- 

 ing. The eggs are not to be gathered this season, at 

 least only a few." May 27th : " Gulls not very numerous 

 at the pit; saw a few young ones." Mr. Salmon left 

 Thetford in 1837, and this is the last mention in his 

 diary of the Stanford gulls. The tenacity with which 

 the birds seem to have clung to their old nesting-place 

 is remarkable, but to account for their eventual disap- 



