GATHERING GULLS' EGGS. 



273 



beginning of the season and sold for consumption 

 as human food. Some idea may be gathered of the 

 magnitude of this colony when it is mentioned 

 that as many as 20,000 eggs have been gathered 

 in a single spring. The outside number of a 

 clutch of Black-headed Gull's eggs is three ; and 

 although the birds lay again when robbed, second 

 efforts are not molested. 



When we visited Scoulton in the summer of 

 1895, the rats appeared to be committing great 

 havoc amongst the young birds, judging from the 

 numbers of dead and partly devoured ones we saw 

 lying about. 



RAZORBILL AND EGG. 



