76 BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



lakes, and ponds, and for the remainder of the year resort 

 to the sea-shore and the mouths of the larger rivers. 



They arrive at their summer quarters generally in the month 

 of March, but some about the middle or latter end of February, 

 and leave again the end of July or beginning of August. 

 Many must leave the country in the autumn, and return 

 again in the spring, the numbers of those seen in the latter 

 seasons and the summer being so very great. 



These birds are easily kept in confinement in suitable places, 

 such as walled gardens, but continue shy and timid. T. E. 

 Wilkinson, Esq., of Walsham Hall, has written me word of 

 his having kept one of them alive and well for nearly a year, 

 and it was at last killed by a dog, having unfortunately 

 wandered out of its bounds. 



They may be seen at times perched on low bushes, the top 

 of a boat-house, or the upright stump of a tree, in the places 

 where they build. 



The young were formerly considered good eating, and some 

 proprietors used to make from fifty to eighty pounds a year 

 by their sale. 



Their flight is easy, noiseless, and buoyant, and they some- 

 times hover for a short time over their prey, and then dash 

 on it into the water. They do not usually resort to swimming. 

 On the land they run about in a light and graceful manner. 



They frequently hunt for insects in the twilight, and have 

 been seen so late as between nine and ten o'clock at night, 

 and heard returning from their forage at still later hours. 

 In winter they become very shy. 



They feed on small fish and insects cockchaifers, May-flies, 

 beetles, and moths; as also on slugs, worms, shrimps, butts, 

 and other Crustacea, and, if need be, on water-plants. The 

 first-named, if of the fresh-water kinds, they hawk for at a 

 height of ten or twelve feet in the -air, and on descrying the 

 object, they lower their course, and, skimming the surface, 

 pick it up. They almost always follow the course of the 

 stream, and in winter advance up rivers in the morning, going 

 downwards again towards night. In the spring months they 

 resort to ploughed lands, following the plough in quest of 

 worms and insects; and in summer repair to water. 'During 

 the heat of the day, many of them disperse up and down 

 throughout the corn, pasture, and fallow fields, in search of 

 food. These they beat with great diligence, traversing them 

 again and again, at a height of about ten feet as before. 



