832 The Zoologist— July, 1867. 



Lesser Tern at Taunton : Sandwich Tern and Snow Bunting at Exmoulh. — When 

 in Taunton, on Saturday, the 4th of May, I had a lesser tern given me by Mr. Bad- 

 don, of that town : it had been shut that same morning by the river, in a place called 

 the Priory Fields. The Sandwich tern I shot on Friday, the 12th of April, when on 

 an expedition to Exmoulh to look for birds for my collection: when I first saw it, it 

 was silting on a buoy off Exmoulh Bar. The two snow buntings I killed on Wed- 

 nesday, the 10th of April ; they are in summer plumage, black and white, very little of 

 the tawny edgings of the feathers being left. A friend who was with me killed two 

 others on the Friday; they were in exactly the same plumage as my birds: all four 

 were shot on the Warren at Exmouth. I may add that I killed one and saw many 

 redthroated divers, but none in anything approaching summer plumage, not even so 

 far advanced as the one I mentioned in the May number of the ' Zoologist' (S. S. 7(30) 

 as having been picked up at Bishop's Hall. — Cecil Smith; Lydeard House, Taunton, 

 May 6, 1867. 



Breeding of the Blackheaded Gull at Pilling Moss, Lancashire. — Crossing the River 

 Wyre in a ferry-boat, jnst in front of the barracks at Fleetwood, lands you about four 

 miles and a half from Pilling Moss, a part of the country which fifty years ago was 

 wild unreclaimed land, but now is under cultivation, with the exception of one small 

 portion, a heather patch of some thirty acres. In the centre of this tract lies some two 

 acres of swampy, rushy land, green, doubtless from the excreta; of the countless 

 numbers of blackheaded gulls {Larus ridibundus) which breed here. This spot is called 

 by the common people in the neighbourhood "Gull Island,'' though it is not 

 surrounded on any side by water. The name "island'' arises doubtless from its 

 distinct colour to the surrounding heath. The breeding-place of the blackheaded gull 

 is the properly of Mr. Henry Gardner, and he deserves the thanks of every true lover 

 of Nature for the way he protects them. From the beginning of A (nil till the end of 

 June the keeper hardly ever leaves the spot, otherwise the nests would all be rubbed ; 

 as it is, he tells me, that during the night trespassers come in gangs to steal the eggs, 

 and in spite of all his watchfulness succeed sometimes in doing so. The blackheaded 

 gulls have bred on Pilling Moss for some twenty-six years; before that they built 

 somewhere near where the town of Fleetwood now stands, but in consequence of the 

 increase of the town they deserted its precincts, and, crossing the Wyre, settled on 

 Pilling Moss, where they met with protection and favour. And well do they deserve 

 it; for miles around the nesting-ground every field in which the ploughman is working 

 has its flock of gulls following the plough and picking up every grub or insect that 

 the coulter disturbs: now floating gracefully over the ploughman's head, now on 

 quivering wing and with outstretched feet a few inches from the newly-turned-up 

 mould, they form a lively and beautiful addition to the landscape. But the breeding- 

 place itself is the wonderful sight : as you approach within a few yards of the green 

 spot I have already mentioned, the birds begin to rise, and when you are fairly among 

 the eggs all hover in a dense cloud over the nests ; to endeavour to count them or form 

 any estimate of their number would be futile, as easy to say how many flakes of snow 

 one could see falling on two acres of ground in a heavy snow-storm: there must be 

 many thousands. Not the least interesting thing is the fact that twenty-six years ago 

 the colony consisted of only a limited number; now, under the system of protection, 

 they have increased to countless multitudes, and no doubt will continue to do so. The 

 nests were very numerous on the 4 th, wheu I was there, so much so that care had to be 



