lj.2 BRITISH BIEDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 



502. MASKED GULL (Lams capistratns). 

 A very rare bird, and one of which only a very few specimen^ 

 generally speaking, have been hitherto met with. 



303. BLACK-HEADED GULL (Lams ridibundm). 



Brown-headed Gull, Red-legged Gull, Laughing Gull, Pewit 

 Gull, Black-cap, Sea Crow, Hooded Mew. This is a very numer- 

 ous, and at least at some periods of the year, a very generally 

 diffused species. At the breeding time, although a few pairs may 

 be met with in an infinite number of localities, the great bulk ol 

 the species seems to collect at a few chosen places. One such 

 place, in which they breed in thousands, is on Scoulton Mere, 

 in Norfolk; another at Pallinsburn, in Northumberland; and a 

 third, in Lincolnshire, not far from Brigg. The nests are mack: 

 of sedges, grass and the flowering part of the reed, and are not. 

 very deeply cup-shaped The bird lays three eggs, and there is a 

 very great degree of variation between them in respect of colour 

 and markings; the ground-colour being sometimes of a light 

 blue or yellow, and sometimes green, or red, or brown. Some, 

 too, are thickly covered with spots, and others scarcely marked 

 with a single speckle or spot. In more than one of their great 

 breeding-places the right of gathering the eggs is rented, and 

 sometimes upwards of a thousand eggs are collected in a single 

 day. When the first laying of eggs is taken, a second batch, ai"! 

 even a third is produced ; but in each successive instance, tLc 

 eggs become less. They are used as the Pewit's eggs are, and also 

 for culinary purposes, being sold for about fivepence a score.- - 

 fig. 7, plate XI. 



304. LAUGHING-GULL (Lams atridlla). 



A bird of exceedingly rare, or rather exceptional, occurrence. 



305. KITTIWAKE (Lams tridadylus). 

 Tarrock, Annet. A very common rock-breeding Gull, mc;t 



with on almost all parts of pur coasts, and nesting in great num- 

 bers in many different localities. Flamborough Head, St. Abb's 

 Head, the Bass, more than one of the Fame islands, are such 

 places. It places its nest of sea-weed high up on the face of 

 some rocky steep on a narrow ledge, and deposits therein, for the 

 most part, three eggs. These differ much in colour and in the 

 amount and position of the spots ; some are stone-coloured, some 

 tinged with an olive shade, and some with a bluish cast. The 

 spots and blotches are of ash-grey and two or three shades of 

 brown, chestnut to umber. Fig.\ t plate XII. 



306. IVORY-GULL (Lams eburneus). 

 Snow-bird. A bird of very rare occurrence. 



