i6o Nesting Status of the Black-headed Gull in Yorks. 



Of course there will always be fluctuations, but they may not 

 be so great as they were during the leanest years of the war, 

 when large numbers of these gulls' eggs were collected for 

 human food, with the consent of the Law. Their eggs are 

 protected again now, and it may be necessary for our Wild 

 Birds' and Eggs' Protection Acts Committee to move where a 

 gullcry is being raided. The bird is one of the most useful 

 birds to the agriculturist, and is also a good scavanger. 



In the West Riding, at least, the Black-headed Gull is 

 practically a migrant, arriving from early in March, and the 

 last departing early in October. It is not often seen here in 

 winter, excepting in ver}^ wild or hard weather. 



I beg to tender my best thanks to all who have supplied 

 me with information. One of my greatest difficulties has been 

 that in several cases the same gullery has been described 

 under two or more geographical names. 



West Riding. 



Thorne Waste. — Mr. E. W. Wade informs me that about 

 ten or twelve pairs still nest annually on the Warp on Thorne 

 Waste, close to the site of the old gullery there. 



Black Moss, near Diggle, and Marsden Moors, etc. — 

 I have found the utmost difficulty in dealing with this nesting 

 station, or rather, as it is now, this series of nesting sites. 

 The gulls arrived and nested for the first time at Black Moss 

 about the year 1895 or 1896. For several years they confined 

 their attention, so far as nesting was concerned, to Black 

 Moss. But for many years now (probably over a dozen) 

 they have been so harried and persecuted, and later fired at 

 by the gamekeepers, that they have become very wild, and 

 have nested in many places. Some of these sites are made 

 use of each year and others are not. In 1920 the keepers gave 

 the gulls such a hot reception on their return, that none nested 

 on Black Moss that season. In 1913 Mr. Fred Taylor, of 

 Rochdale, coimted no nests with eggs, and estimated the 

 numbers at Black Moss for each year, from 1913 to 1919 in- 

 clusive, at about 150 pairs, and one of the gamekeepers 

 estimated the number of pairs on and around the Marsden 

 Moors (including Black Moss) as over 200 pairs in 1919. 

 In addition there were a few outlying nesting sites. Capt. 

 A. W^ Boyd informs me that the ringed gull reported in 

 British Birds (Vol. VIII., p. 214) as from Stanedge Moor 

 gullery^was really from Black Moss, as he was with the man 

 when he picked it up. This bird was evidently nesting, and 

 had been ' ringed ' at Ravenglass four years and one month 

 previously. A nestling, 'ringed ' by Capt. Boyd near Diggle, 

 on July 2nd, 1914, was reported in The Shooting Times from 

 near Golouccster, in January, 1916. 



Naturalist 



