182 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
luxuriant heath; and at one spot there are numerous hillocks, 
like gigantic mole-hills. 
We saw numbers of Peewits and Curlews, but looked in vain 
for their nests, although I am sure we were close to both. We 
crossed a small brook, the marsh became higher and drier, and 
as the result saw nor heard any more of Peewit and Curlew. So 
far we had not seen any sign of a Gull, and I began to doubt their 
existence here. Going on a little further I heard a croak, and 
looking up saw a Gull I could not quite make out, though I was 
sure it was not a Black-headed Gull. About a quarter of a mile 
off some twenty or thirty Gulls were standing on the hillocks, and 
on nearing them we began to look about for nests. We soon found 
traces of these either on or near the hillocks, round depressions 
which the birds had worked out with their bodies, exactly like the 
nests of tame ducks. Some of these were lined with dry grass, 
others had nothing in them but a stray feather or two. At last I 
almost walked into one, in which there was a large brown egg 
spotted with black, about the size of a duck’s egg. Proceeding 
a little further, I found a nest containing two eggs, one grey with 
black spots, the other brown; and then, in a radius of say 100 
yards, I found half-a-dozen more nests, containing from one to 
four eggs. The Gulls were now flying all round us, and so far as 
I could see they were the Lesser Black-backed Gull; but to 
make the matter quite certain, I found a dead bird on one nest 
that had the distinctive characteristic of yellow legs. There was 
no doubt, therefore, that this was a colony of Larus fuscus. We 
soon got through the breeding place, and seeing no more nests, I 
went back to try and ascertain the area over which the nests were 
distributed. Speaking roughly, I should say that it was a space 
of about a quarter of a mile one way, and half a mile the other. 
In this area the Gulls are very numerous. I imagine there were 
at least 100 pairs, but the nests were far more numerous. I 
counted about fifty nests, of which some twenty contained eggs. 
On none of these were the birds sitting. 
They rose, and after circling round us, settled about 200 
yards off, one or two flying round croaking as long we remained. 
The ground was quite dry, the spot selected being the highest 
point of the marsh. I took one or two eggs, and found in 
the same nest one newly laid and one partly incubated. Clearly 
the birds lay in each other’s nests. The eggs are of the most varied 
