306 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xiii. 



very slowly walked on to the nest, shuffled down and sat, 

 panting with the heat, her bill widely separated. A beautiful 

 object she looked, at a distance of less than two yards, the 

 pale olive-green of her bill contrasting with the deep orange 

 and yellow of her gape and the brilliant sun shining on her 

 pure white and pale grey plumage. She proved easily 

 frightened and left the nest while I was setting the shutter, 

 and a further ten minutes elapsed before her return. Each 

 time an exposure was made, the noise of the shutter put 

 her off, but she gradually got used to it and finally was only 

 off for two or three minutes, flying straight on to the nest 

 on her return. Her mate once settled within fifteen yards 

 of the nest, and he too was panting with the heat. Had 

 time permitted, an opportunity might have occurred of 

 taking both birds together. 



On this day I also saw the fourth pair of birds in the same 

 place as on May 31st, so that it is almost certain that they 

 had a nest also, but there was not time to look for it. 



There is a certain amount of evidence that one pair at 

 least nested and successfully reared their young in 191 7 and 

 1918. One of the watchers apparently recognized the present 

 birds as identical with those he saw in those years, but it 

 was evident that he was not quite clear as to the differences 

 between the Common and Herring-Gulls. They must, 

 however, have been one or the other. They were a solitary 

 pair and nested on the crown of a shingle ridge a long way 

 away from the Black-headed Gull area, which has always 

 been affected by the Herring-Gulls ; and he saw their nest 

 with eggs, and later the young ones with their parents. 



It would be too sanguine to hope that there is any likelihood 

 of the Common Gull establishing itself as a breeding species 

 at so great a distance beyond its normal range, for the single 

 pairs that bred on the Fame Islands in 1910 and 1912, and 

 also subsequently, and on the Cumberland side of the Solway 

 in 1914 are, with the exception of another older and appar- 

 ently doubtful record from the Fames, the only instances 

 known on which this species has done so south of the 

 Border. At present the facts related above can only be 

 looked upon as an instance of sporadic nesting similar to 

 that of the Lesser Black-backed Gull, and a very interesting 

 and remarkable occurrence. 



