882 Birds. 



golden plover, dunlin, and even red grouse, bred extensively, but of 

 late their numbers have decreased considerably, especially since a 

 large portion of it has been brought into a state of cultivation ; though 

 a few pairs of these birds still occupy certain districts where they an- 

 nually rear their broods. New tenants, however, within the space of 

 the last twelve years, have succeeded the ancient colonists, locating 

 themselves in the wettest and least accessible portion of the moss. 

 These modern settlers are the black-backed and black-headed gulls ; 

 and as the latter have been, for several years past, protected by the 

 gamekeepers from the plundering propensities and pilfering habits of 

 idle boys and mischievous persons, they have now become very nu- 

 merous, and each succeeding year adds some thousands to their ra- 

 pidly increasing numbers, so that the protection which is now thrown 

 around this harmless bird, by the agriculturists and the gamekeepers, 

 bids fair, at no distant period, to make this colony of black-headed 

 gulls the largest in the kingdom. The place chosen by these birds 

 for their nidification, is the most swampy that could be selected, and 

 in its undrained state produces the least and poorest vegetation. 

 Previously to its being selected by these birds for their breeding- 

 ground, it produced scarcely anything but a miserably stunted, un- 

 healthy, heath. This poor heath, in the immediate vicinity of these 

 birds, has been almost entirely annihilated by their excrement, and in 

 its place has sprung up a rich and varied vegetation, surpassing in 

 verdure and luxuriance much of the cultivated land around and ad- 

 joining the moss. The following are a few of the plants which have 

 been introduced on this moss by this novel system of husbandry, and 

 which I collected when visiting the place during the summer of 1843. 

 1. The meadow soft grass, (Holcus lanatus). 2. The smooth-stalked 

 meadow-grass, (Poa pratensis). 3. The sweet-scented vernal grass, 

 (Anthoxanthum odoratum). 4. The broad smooth-leaved willow- 

 herb, (Epilobium montanum). 5. The buttercup, (Ranunculus — ?). 

 6. The sorrel dock, (Rumex Acetosa). 7. The ragged Robin, (Lych- 

 nis Flos-cuculi). Besides these I may also particularize the common 

 rush, which now prevails so extensively on the breeding-ground, as 

 to assume the appearance of a young plantation ; and having got its 

 strong roots deeply and thickly interwoven in the spongy surface of 

 the moss, has thereby rendered travelling much more secure. The 

 rushes which have here, within a few years, sprung up so thickly, 

 were last year sold, by the owner of the moss, for Jive pounds ; and 

 had not the difficulty, and consequent expense, of getting them from 

 the moss been very considerable (the whole of them, when cut, hav- 



