9676 Birds. 



m 



on the third an old bird with neither eggs nor young; on the fourth 

 an old bird and three eggs ; on the fifth an old bird and two eggs : 

 this last was a beautiful bird, with a fine tuft on its head. While we 

 were looliing an old bird returned to No. 2, where there was a single 

 young bird, and after feeding it and resting, flew off again : her mode 

 of feeding it was curious; instead of putting her bill with food into 

 that of her young, as is usual with most birds, just the reverse took 

 place — the young bird inserted its bill into that of its parent, and so 

 took out the food. After throwing about a dozen stones, at last we 

 got No. 1 off her nest, and saw three white eggs. Close to No. 4 

 a herring gull was sitting, and would not leave her nest. Higher up, 

 between Nos. 3 and 4, another herring gull was sitting ; by throwing 

 stones we made her fly, and saw three young birds mottled with brown 

 and some broken egg-shells. The next morning early we proceeded 

 to the same cliff" with ropes to try and take some shag's eggs. It was 

 a difl^cult task ; the nests were a long way down (in one instance we 

 let out all our line 150 feet), and the cliff" being almost perpendicular, 

 the footing was very insecure. Many persons would have shuddered 

 at the idea of descending such a cliff"; nevertheless our daring guide 

 went down, and robbed two of the nests, bringing up six eggs, three 

 of which were fresh and the others incubated. We had previously 

 obtained a few shag's eggs from Durdle Rock and South Cliff", but 

 although obtained a week earlier they were more incubated than those 

 taken furlhei* west, at Bat's Head. One morning, out of curiosity, 

 while a fisherman was cutting up for bait some young shags we had 

 killed, 1 took out the stomachs to examine the contents, and besides 

 the fish of diff'erent sizes which I found, I was astonished at the 

 quantity of intestinal worms with which even the young of this bird 

 is infested. We had no spirits at hand, or I should have placed some 

 of them in a bottle for future exau)ination." 



GuHiiet. — The fishermen say that, during the herring season, they 

 frequently see gannets off" tlie coast, and they follow the boats and 

 carry off" great numbers of fish. 



Terns. — These birds are not found in the same places as the gulls,— 

 viz. in the cliff's or on the rocks, — but breed upon the beach between 

 Weymouth and Abbotsbury. W^e saw several eggs of the common 

 tern and two of the lesser tern, but one of the latter was unfortunately 

 broken, the other 1 secured. 



Gulls. — Previously to starting on our trip I had been referring to 

 various authorities in order to ascertain what gulls we should be likely 

 to meet with on the Dorset coast, and gleaned that the kittiwake, 



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