sitting on the tops of the trees, many of the highest 

 branches being killed by their excrement. The 

 nests are usually located among the rough stones 

 and roots on the ground ; but in two instances I 

 have found them placed in branches of the trees 

 though never at a greater height than four feet. 



This bird is most destructive to the Smolts or 

 juvenile Salmon, being often noticed feeding on the 

 shallows of the river ; it also preys on young birds 

 and is accused (though I have never myself observed 

 it) of devouring the eggs of game. 



The specimens in the case were obtained at 

 the islands in the Lochs of Koro in the north-west 

 of Perthshire in June, 1867. 



The Common Gull breeds in some numbers on the 

 cliffs of a small island off the east coast of South Uist in the 

 Outer Hebrides, as well as on other sea cliffs in that neigh- 

 bourhood. I was much astonished to find one of their nests 

 on a spit of sand in Fiaray, among the Arctic Terns' nests 

 which abound there. 



Almost every one of the innumerable lochs on the west 

 side of South Uist has several pairs of this species nesting on 

 the islets or near the banks. As the sun sinks, the birds 

 may be seen streaming off the land over the sandhills to the 

 sea for food, and it is only at that time that one realizes 

 what a vast number must breed there. 



In 1901 a pair nested on the top of the ruin of Ardvrech 

 Castle in Loch Assynt, where St. John slew his ospreys off 

 their nest ; another pair nested on the extreme top of the 

 gable of the neighbouring ruined house of the Mackenzies. 

 I had never seen them there in former years, nor had the 

 keeper of the adjoining forest. Ed. 



COMMON GULL (WINTER.) 

 Case 239. 



The mature bird in its winter dress and the 

 young in the immature stage are shown in the 

 present case. 



Though feeding on fish, if it comes in their 

 way, these birds during winter, when on the coast, 

 appear to have a partiality for the mouths of sewers 



