36 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



The mischievousness of the Jackdaws at the hatching period 

 is almost incredible. They constantly hover round the 

 Gullery on the look-out for plunder ; and everywhere lie 

 young Gulls, dead, with a sharp beak-thrust through their 

 soft stomachs. The Jacks continually engage in skirmishes 

 with the old Gulls, and are evidently masters of the situation. 

 We set a dozen traps near the Gullery, baited with eggs, and 

 caught about thirty of the impudent marauders ; but it was 

 noticeable that not a single Gull came near the traps. This 

 shows clearly that the Black-headed Gulls are not guilty of 

 egg-stealing propensities; and keepers have therefore no 

 reason for molesting these beautiful moor-birds. They feed 

 on worms, slugs, &c., and come down regularly on to the grass- 

 land in search of such food. Very different is the habit of 

 the Black-backed Gull (Larusfuscus) : these large and power- 

 ful birds are inveterate egg-stealers, and deserve no mercy on 

 the inland moors. On one occasion I found one of the big 

 Gulls floating, dead, in one of the loughs at Elsdon, choked 

 with a wild-duck's egg stuck fast in his gullet. (See Yar- 

 rell's British Birds, 4th Ed., Vol. III., p. 627.) 



It is this species (the Lesser Black-back) which is so 

 numerous on the coast at the Fame Islands, some 30 or 40 

 miles away, where many thousands breed. I do not know 

 of any nesting on the inland moors at the present day, 

 though they used to do so many years ago. Mr. C. M. 

 Adamson tells me, in the neighbourhood of Haltwhistle, and 

 doubtless elsewhere also. But they were persecuted (I must 

 say deservedly) by the gamekeepers, and are now apparently 

 driven exclusively to the salt water. They are frequently to 

 be seen, nevertheless, on the moors and inland rivers, espe- 

 cially during spring, and it is possible that some may still 

 nest in the almost boundless tracts of moor and waste along 

 the Borders. 



The Grey-hens are also beginning to lay. One nest to-day 

 (May 1st) in an old " scroggy " fence, had two eggs ; another 

 on the 4th, out on the open moor, had four. Though they 

 frequent all the higher fell-ranges of the Border, yet Black- 

 game are not so exclusively alpine in their tastes as the 

 Grouse ; the Grey-hens in spring seek the lower grounds for 



