30 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



or in a hollow or chink of the cliffs ; in a sheltered 

 hollow of the grassy downs : or amongst the thick 

 growth of sea campion, thrift, and other marine 

 plants that often grow so luxuriantly in the bird's 

 haunts. I have remarked that the nest is usually 

 larger when built on a cliff than when on the ground, 

 and in some cases is almost dispensed with. It is 

 composed of turf, dry sea-weed, coarse grass, and 

 stalks of various marine plants, lined with finer 

 grass often gathered green. The eggs are two or 

 three in number, varying in ground colour from 

 pale bluish-green through yellowish-brown to olive- 

 brown, and the spots are small and few and dark 

 brown, pale brown, and gray. This Gull will lay a 

 second lot of eggs if the first clutch be taken, as 

 they often are, for culinary purposes. When the 

 nesting places are intruded upon by human visitors, 

 the Gulls, as usual, become very noisy, the birds 

 whose eggs are most directly threatened being 

 filled with the greatest clamour. I have often 

 remarked that Gulls whose nests were safe in in- 

 accessible parts of the cliffs have remained quietly 

 sitting on them, while their less fortunate neigh- 

 bours have been filled with noisy alarm, as they 

 watched the fate of their eggs from the air above. 

 The note is very similar to that of the preceding 

 species. 



COMMON GULL. 



This pretty Gull, the Larus canus of Linnaeus, is, 

 during the summer months especially, one of the 



