PkESIDENT's ADDRESS. 273 



" nests " were mere hollows in the sand, and contained one 

 and two eggs. In one nest there were three, and in another 

 there were four; but in the latter case the eggs must have 

 been the produce of two birds, inasmuch as two eggs had 

 been deposited in one day. The keeper had a list of the 

 eggs so far laid, and these amounted together to 145. A few 

 more might be laid, but probably not many. We noticed no 

 exceptional markings on any of the eggs ; in fact they were as 

 plain a series as ever we saw. The Blackheaded Gull was as 

 numerous as on the occasion of our last visit. The birds 

 were like a cloud as they rose from their nests. It would 

 have been difficult to count the number of these, but we had 

 no reason to doubt the keeper's estimate of 80,000 pairs of 

 birds as being fairly correct. The eggs were all in a high 

 state of incubation, and many young birds were just hatched 

 out; and some of them we watched coming out of their shells. 

 A very short time appears to elapse from the bird emerging 

 from the shell and its acquiring the instinctive capability of 

 hiding itself. We noticed nothing remarkable in either the 

 eggs or the nests. The latter varied considerably, some of 

 them consisting only of a very slight foundation of dried 

 grasses ; others there were larger, and one we examined con- 

 sisted of a large, well formed foundation of sticks about the 

 size of the nest of the Rook. The cup at .the top, formed of 

 dried grasses and bents, was also much more perfect than 

 usual. 



We learnt this year the Sheldrake had not visited the 

 estuary in anything like such large numbers as it had done 

 in preceding years. A nest of the Wheatear containing six 

 eggs had been seen in the morning shortly before our visit, 

 and these birds appear to be fairly numerous. On our way 

 back to the shore we saw two eggs of the Ring Dotterel 

 deposited on the sand ; and the keeper informed us that last 

 year there had been at least fifty pairs nesting, but few eggs 

 had been hatched in consequence of a very heavy gale which 

 had caused the eggs to become covered with sand and 

 deserted by the birds, who never seem to attempt to uncover 

 the eggs again. 



