Nesting Status of the Black-headed Gull in Yorks. i6i 



I must particularly tender my thanks to Messrs. Fred Taylor 

 and Johnson Wilkinson, and to Capt. x\. W. Boyd, M.C., for 

 helping me to deal with this somewhat difficult nesting station. 



White Holme Reservoir, Blackstone Edge (just within the 

 county). — Probably this guUery was established about 

 twenty years ago, and it still exists. 



Writing in The Halifax Naturalist for August, 1902 (Vol. 

 VII., pp. 53-4), Mr. Harold Pickles says as he approached 

 White Holme reservoir, ' Black -headed Gulls appeared in 

 numbers. By the time I reached the breeding station the 

 whole colony of over two hundred were screaming overhead. 

 Breeding was over, and the nests only contained a few addled 

 eggs.' Although I am thankful to Mr. Pickles for an early 

 record of this colony, I am afraid his description of the young 

 birds will not hold good. He says ' The young birds can now 

 only be distinguished from the old ones by their lighter colour 

 and cleaner appearance.' Taking the 200 old and young 

 birds, a conservative estimate is that thirty to forty pairs 

 nested at White Holme in 1902. There is always a natural 

 tendency with people not used to gulleries to over-estimate 

 the number of birds present. 



This colony appears to have fluctuated in numbers, and has 

 considerably varied the nesting sites locally, but always near 

 White Holme reservoir, or on Soyland Moor near by. Mr. 

 Fred Taylor first visited this station in 1906, when there 

 appeared to be only about twelve nests. The following year 

 he found a great increase, and estimated the numbers at about 

 150 pairs, nesting in three separate places. They have 

 fluctuated considerably since. In 1917 the bulk of the birds 

 moved to that part of Soyland Moor (near by) that is bounded 

 by the Halifax and Mytholmroyd roads. They had a sorry 

 time there that year, and Mr. Taylor does not think a single 

 chick got off from this site. One Sunday in May he saw 

 several men taking eggs (for human food during the war), and 

 after counting the eggs each man had, he found they totalled 

 over 300 eggs in all. 



On June 22nd, 1919, Capt. Boyd, M.C., found about 40 

 nests containing about 70 eggs on the reservoir site. Mr. F. 

 Taylor considers that the numbers of birds present in 1920 

 were considerably fewer than for several years. Mr. Walter 

 Greaves has visited this station from time to time, and says 

 the numbers are subject to considerable fluctuation. 



Mr. F. Taylor informs me of a small outlying station at 

 a reservoir below Ringstone Edge, which was reduced to about 

 ten pairs in 1920. 



Fairburn, near Castleford. — I have to thank Mr. H. 

 Pollard for information about this guUery, and for obtaining 

 particulars from the gamekeeper (Joseph Fox) there. The 



1921 May \ 



