The Black-hacks of the Bass. 47 



' L. mariniis: an egg 1 bought in 1853 in Edinburgh, said 

 to be that of Great Black-backed Gull from the Bass Eock, 

 where the bird certainly does breed.' " The dimensions of 

 this egg, as I have since ascertained from the Museum, are — 

 axis, 3-0 in. ; diameter, 2'05 in. A Great Black-back's it 

 undoubtedly seems to be, but one feels there is a link 

 awanting to connect it for certain with the Bass. 



I may here state that, in the beginning of 1902, I also 

 wrote to Prof. Newton, inquiring whether there was any- 

 thing in Wolley's notes or collection of eggs relating to 

 the Black -backs of the Bass, and received from him an 

 answer in the negative. At same time, he kindly mentioned 

 that in his own collection are three eggs given to him 

 in 1846, as Great Black-back's from the Firth of Forth, 

 by a schoolfellow who went to spend his holidays at or 

 near Edinburgh, " and which, from their size," he adds, " I 

 believe to be right." Prof. Newton thinks that, at that 

 time, a dealer would have no particular object in giving a 

 wrong locality. 



Part of my boyhood was spent in East Lothian, and 

 between 1860 and 1864 I heard a good deal about the birds 

 then breeding on the Bass from my father and Dr Charles 

 Nelson of Pitcox, who visited the Eock together on several 

 occasions during that period. My own first visit to Canty 

 Bay, where the lessee of the Eock lives, also occurred then, 

 but I have no clear recollection of the eggs exposed for sale 

 there. This much, however, I can say, namely, that I was 

 brought up in the belief that the Black-backs frequenting 

 the Bass were the Lesser species, and that two eggs obtained 

 from there in 1862 as such, were among the treasures of my 

 first collection. One of them, with the card to which 

 they were glued, bearing the name, locality, and date 

 printed on it by myself at the time, is still in existence. 

 These eggs were too small for Great Black-back's, and 

 under the circumstances are not likely to have been 

 Herring Gull's. 



A. G. More, in his paper " On the Distribution of Birds 

 in Great Britain during the Nesting-season" {Ihis, 1865), 

 shows both species of Black-backed Gull as occurring in his 



