THE BLACK-HEADED OIJLL. 333 



in the counties of Eoscommon and Leitrim, when flying after 

 moths (perhaps the ghost-moth^ Hepialus himiuli) above the 

 ripe but unmown meadows, in flocks generally of about a dozen 

 birds. My informant is not aware of any breeding-place being 

 near.* " The Eev. J. Dubourdieu is of opinion that the moths of 

 the cut-worm (from his description, Fhalana humidi) have dimi- 

 nished, as he sees the gulls in the meadow before his house [in 

 the county Down] pursuing like swallows, and catching them 

 even until eleven o'clock at night. Erom a considerable distance 

 he can hear the snap of the gull when it seizes one. At this 

 period we may see the moths, the nights being so light as to 

 appear twilight throughout." t 



Everywhere over Ireland that I have been — in the north, east, 

 west, and south — this gull was met with, and along the western 

 coast as numerously as elsewhere. One of the most favourite 

 localities I know is the inner extremity of Dundalk Bay : I have 

 never crossed the bridge northward of the town without seeing 

 numbers. Certainly as many, if not more, than are bred in the 

 island remain during the winter on the sea-coast, and in the most 

 northern estuaries. 



Sir William Jardine remarks, that " the black-headed gull is 

 at all times to be met with on the coast in the south of Scotland 

 during winter, but in no proportion whatever to the large num- 

 bers that annually resort inland to breed " (' Brit. Birds,' vol. iv. 

 p. 295). The marshy extremity of a mountain tarn covering a 

 few acres on a moor, about twelve miles inland from Ballantrae, 

 in Ayrshire, in occupation of a friend, is annually tenanted by a 

 large colony of these birds, which look extremely beautiful in 

 the midst of the wild heath ; but so easy of access are their nests, 

 that they are sadly pillaged of their eggs, and, as the practice of 

 robbing them is on the increase, the poor gulls will, doubtless, 

 be eventually banished from the district they so much adorn. On 

 the 29th of September, 1842, I observed great numbers of these 



* Mr. \V. R. Willie. f Journal of John Tumplcloii, June 29, 1808. 



