long inland journeys in rough weather, in these instances 

 almost invariably travelling to windward, as, indeed, is 

 the case with most Gulls and many other maritime 

 birds. This bird, according to authors better informed 

 than myself, generally selects low grassy spots for its 

 nest; in the only instance in which I have found it 

 breeding the chosen spot was a rushy bog surrounding 

 a small lonely lake at a considerable distance from the 

 sea, the nests were composed of twigs of heather and 

 coarse grasses, and contained two or three eggs apiece. 

 In Northamptonshire we are annually visited by stray 

 single birds of this species from August till March, and 

 in winter flood-times large numbers occasionally visit our 

 valley in company with other Gulls, and subsist during 

 their stay on the drowned-out earthworms in our 

 meadows. 



