BLACK-HEADED GTJLL. 73 



at least satisfactorily; they have several local names, such as 

 Pick or Pit Birnet, Sea Maws, Sea Swallows, etc., but how- 

 far these bear upon their proper denomination, I have found 

 no one sufficiently versed in the natural history of birds in 

 this neighbourhood to determine. 



Whatever may be their proper name, it is, I believe admitted 

 that they first came to Pallinsburn above eighty years a^o, 

 at a time when a large bog or lake, something similar to 

 our own, was drained near the town of Kelso; how long 

 they had previously been known to visit there, I have heard 

 no one say. 



An impression, though an erroneous one, has generally 

 prevailed, that they are so regular in their migrations as to 

 come and leave on a given day. Now, although so constant 

 in their habits year after year, such is not the fact, as I have 

 known them vary as much as two weeks. The real state of 

 the case is, that their arrival depends entirely on the state 

 of the weather about the end of the month of February. If 

 that month is fine and open, they begin in small numbers 

 to hover about, in the neighbourhood of the pond, by about 

 the 20th.; they increase in numbers daily, each day drawing 

 nearer to it; in the course of a week they alight on the 

 water for about an hour in the forenoon, then stay on it, 

 also increasing perhaps an hour or two every day, until, if 

 the spring continues fine, about the end of the first week in 

 March they finally remain all night, and may be then said 

 to be permanently located for the season. This is, however, 

 not always so. I remember, about ten or twelve years ago, 

 after having begun to build their nests, a severe snow-storm 

 came on, and they at once went away for a week or two, 

 and we almost imagined they had forsaken the pond, but the 

 very first fresh morning that dawned, even before the snow 

 had disappeared, they were there as busy as ever. 



Their nests are of course built on the little islands in the 

 pond, which are grown over with reeds and bulrushes, and 

 are made merely of little pieces of stick or straw, being 

 similar to that of the Plover in a field. Their eggs also most 

 closely resemble those of that bird, both in number, colour, 

 shape, and taste, being highly prized by some people for their 

 eating. The young ones, as soon as hatched, take to the water, 

 where they are to be seen in thousands, and the sight at that 

 time of the year is most interesting. As they begin to take 



