MAY 103 



increasing numbers. There has been a regular trade in 

 them from Norfolk for many years. Mr. Stevenson, in 

 the fourth edition of Yarrell's Birds, describes the pro- 

 cess of collecting them at Scoulton : — 



' Two men are employed to collect three days a week, pick- 

 ing up every egg they can find, and generally at the rate from 

 1500 to 2000 a day; but when in full laying and left undis- 

 turbed for two clear days, between 3000 and 4000 have been 

 taken in one day. From 10,000 to 20,000 eggs have been 

 obtained in this manner in different seasons. In 1870 the eggs 

 sold on the spot at 9d. to Is. the score.' 



In some northern counties the eggs of black-headed 

 gulls have received protection from county councils, under 

 the Wild Birds Preservation Act ; but in one instance, at 

 least, this protection has been withdrawn this year, owing 

 to the excessive increase of the species. 



XVII 

 The melting of May into June, especially if accom- 

 plished under weeping skies, was Christopher ,j^^^ 

 North's idea of the angler's halcyon. But spring and 

 Christopher had trout-fishing in view: the '™™®'^ 

 salmon-fisher has cause to regard these weeks as a kind 

 of interregnum between the run of early fish and the 

 coming of grilse. In most rivers the survivors of the 

 spring fish have become worldly wise, wagging their tails 

 softly and derisively winking (so far as creatures without 

 eyelids can be understood to wink) as Jock Scotts, Silver 

 Grays, Dun Turkeys, and Blue Doctors continue to float 

 and skim, jerk and wobble overhead. Not a few of these 

 fish have twinges of toothache as they behold the well- 



