412 SCOULTON MEEE, NOEFOLK, AND 



In ^The Field/ June 23, 1877, appeared the following statement:— 



" Blach'headed Gull nesting in a Boat. 



" There is a loch near my house, one end of which is all reeds and 

 rushes, where the Black-headed Gulls have their nests in hundreds. I have 

 a small boat fastened to a stake about twenty yards from the shore, near the 

 Gulls' nests. On Thursday, the last day of May, I had occasion to use the 

 boat, and found a Gull's nest built on the top of a small locker in the bow 

 of the boat. I remarked to the keeper, ' That is a rum place for a Gull to 

 build its nest in! ' and threw it overboard. 



" I had no occasion to go near the boat again until the Tuesday following 

 (June 5). There was then a complete nest and two eggs in it, in the same 

 place on the locker. This time I took the boat and used it for about 

 an hour and a half, and then moored it to a stake, without interfering with 

 the nest. 



" I did not go near the boat until Saturday, the 9th. There had been 

 some high winds ; the boat had broken adrift, and was stranded about two 

 hundred yards from its original position, but remaining perfectly upright. 

 The Gull was sitting on the nest. I took the boat on the Saturday and 

 crossed the loch, hoisting a sail, and was away about an hour. All the time 

 w^e were sailing one particular Gull kept flying over our heads, and 

 screaming — no doubt the owner of the eggs. I afterwards moored the boat 

 in its old place, and walked down the same evening : the Gull was on 

 the nest in the bow of the boat. 



'' I do not intend to disturb them again (if I can help it) until they are 

 hatched. When the young are two days old they are independent of 

 the nest, though they do not go far from it ; I will then put them 

 oterboard, among the rushes. 



"J. Dunbar Brander." 

 '' Pitgaveny^ Elginshire,'' 



