Birds, 6795 



the younger birds. The herring gulls, both old and inamalure, continued 

 to frequent the river at times, but the weather remaining calm the 

 blaclibacks, at least the adult birds, did not recross the " Bar," nor did 

 I notice any, even out at sea. The thickness of the down and feathers 

 as well as of the skin in these larger gulls is perfectly extraordinary, 

 an ounce of number six, or even four, having little, if any, effect upon 

 their natural armour, and it was not till I obtained some swan shot to 

 mix with them that I succeeded in getting the specimens I required. 

 On skinning a very fine young bird of the greater blackback, whose 

 wing had been broken by one of the large pellets, I found some of the 

 small shot literally rolled up in the down, never having entered the 

 skin, and yet my gun, though a light one, shoots unusually sharp. 



Blackheaded Gull {Larus ridibundus). A pair of these birds passed 

 high over head on two occasions, coming from inland along the course 

 of the river, but 1 never saw them amongst the other species : they 

 probably have a breeding-ground somewhere in the neighbourhood. 

 With reference to gulls generally I may add, that I found a prevailing 

 impression in the minds of the fishermen of this coast, that the small 

 gulls were the young of the large ones, and that the large brown (or 

 immature birds) were " real old specimints " and parents of the great 

 black and white ones. How far my explanations availed to correct 

 these notions I cannot say, but they certainly received them with 

 great doubt as to my veracity. 



Crested Shag {Phalacrocorax graculus). Numbers of these birds 

 frequented the sand-banks on the river at low water, just after the gale 

 I have mentioned, sitting in rows of five or six by the water's edge, 

 like soldiers " in rifle green," making a singular contrast to the white 

 breasts of the various gulls. Though at a distance looking as if 

 nothing could disturb them they seemed to know exactly how near 

 was consistent with safety, and never gave me the least chance of a 

 shot. Specimens are, however, occasionally obtained by lying in 

 ambuscade behind the river wall at certain spots that they chiefly 

 frequent : these birds, like the larger gulls, left soon after the storm, and 

 only one or two appeared afterwards, at times on the mud. 



Razorbill {Alca torda) and Guillemot {Uria troile). The razorbills 

 were very plentiful off the coast, at times appearing within a stone's 

 throw of the beach, but generally most numerous in the early morning 

 or on fine afternoons with a calm sea. At these times it was a pretty 

 sight, with a good glass, to watch the various groups preening their 

 feathers as they floated over the rippling surface of the water, stretching 

 themselves up now and then with a flutter of their wings, or playing 



