FARNE ISLANDS AND THEIR BIRDS 183 



island the more of them we see. While I was 

 photographing a little group of the gulls on the 

 rocks, I saw one 

 walking sedately 

 towards me, and 

 I pointed my 

 camera at it ; but 

 before I could ex- 

 pose a plate this 

 bird approached 

 a nest belonging 

 to a neighbour 

 gull and pecked 

 a great hole in 

 the side of one 

 of the eggs and 

 swallowed the 

 contents. All 

 three eggs were 

 quickly devoured, 

 and then the thief 

 walked away, 

 looking quite 

 satisfied and 

 chuckling in a 

 contented kind of 



way. The owners of the stolen eggs flew down, and as 

 they swooped by uttered their harsh cries, but the thief 



NEST OF LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL 



