JUNE. BLACK-HEADED GULLS. 235 



rule, always to offer a fish a smaller fly than the 

 one he rises shily at ; and I believe that I should 

 be borne out in this opinion by more experienced 

 anglers than myself. 



I never saw so many black-headed gulls collected 

 together as on the Loch of Belivat, on the property 

 of Lethen : at one end of the loch there are a great 

 many rushes and water-plants ; these are, literally 

 speaking, full of nests, formed of interwoven rushes, 

 weeds, &c. ; and on the islands in the lake you can 

 scarcely land without putting your foot on eggs, 

 which are very slightly protected by anything in the 

 shape of a nest. On this island are a few stunted 

 and bent willows ; every branch and every fork of a 

 branch where a nest can possibly be placed is occu- 

 pied : this is the only instance I ever met with of 

 gulls building on bushes. The stench on the island 

 is almost insupportable ; indeed it was so strong 

 that I hurried off again as quickly as possible : the 

 day was hot, and it actually seemed pestilential. 

 The old birds looked like a shower of drifting snow 

 over our heads, and were as noisy as a dozen village 

 schools broken loose. This was on the 2nd of June, 

 and there were numbers of young gulls recently 

 hatched — curiously marked little tortoiseshell- co- 

 loured things, who tottered about the rushes, &c., 

 without the least fear of us. All other birds seemed 



