GULLS AND TERNS. 29 



gliding, as it were, at the slowest pace imaginable. 

 In the latter case, indeed, we are frequently, even 

 against our will, forced to the conclusion that these 

 birds must have at their command some unknown 

 means or mechanism which prevents their sinking ; 

 for neither is the surface-area of their wings large 

 enough, nor are these organs sufficiently concave in 

 form, to allow of their supporting the bird after the 

 manner of a parachute." I can endorse these 

 remarks fully from my own observations (Conf. 

 Idle Hours with Nature, pp. 261, 262). That 

 these flights are accompanied with any vibratory 

 movements of the feathers is erroneous, as I have 

 had many opportunities of satisfying myself, 

 especially when observing the flight of the Fulmar 

 at St. Kilda, the birds then not being more than 

 six feet away from me, when I am positive every 

 individual feather was in perfect rest. 



But to return from this digression to the general 

 habits of the Herring Gull. The breeding season 

 of this Gull is in May and June. Owing to its 

 remarkable aptitude for accommodating itself to the 

 various peculiarities of the coast, it is certainly the 

 most widely dispersed Gull of the British species 

 during the season of reproduction. Perhaps its 

 favourite breeding place is a low rocky island, but 

 failing this it is equally at home upon a range of 

 sea cliffs, a stack of rocks, or less frequently an 

 island in a loch, or, as at Foulshaw Moss in West- 

 moreland, a marsh. The nest is made on a ledge 



