St. Margaret's Bay, Kent. 3611 



Notes on the Birds, Fishes, and Insects observed near St. Margaret's 

 Bay, Kent, By John Joseph Briggs, Esq. 



St. Margaret's Bay is situated perhaps four miles from Dover, near 

 the South Foreland lighthouse, on the Kentish coast. It is buried in 

 a deep recess, between high and prominent chalk cliffs, and contains 

 a few houses occupied chiefly by fishermen, and the coast-guard sta- 

 tioned there for the prevention of smuggling. During the month of 

 May, in the present year, I paid a visit to this remote spot, and picked 

 up the following gleanings in Natural History. 



On the most inaccessible parts of the cliffs overlooking the sea, be- 

 tween St. Margaret's and Dover, I found the guillemot breeding; but 

 I was told that this bird existed there in much more limited numbers 

 now than formerly. The eggs were found resting lightly on the shelves 

 of the cliffs, without nest ; and I can bear testimony to the truth of 

 the assertions which naturalists have made, that the eggs of this bird 

 vary greatly both in ground-colour and markings. Of the three which 

 I was able to procure, one had its ground-colour greenish white, and 

 its broad end banded with a ring of deep black blotches ; its sides 

 varied with a few spots, but none at the smaller end. Another egg 

 had a large black blotch on the centre of the broad end, from which 

 diverged numerous spots, which became smaller in size as they ap- 

 proached the narrow end ; ground-colour white. A third had some 

 well-defined but irregularly -shaped black spots scattered over it upon 

 a greenish white ground. These eggs were procured on the 26th of 

 May, and incubation had just commenced. 



Another species of bird which I found breeding on these cliffs, more 

 especially near the Foreland lighthouse, was the common gull. I pro- 

 cured fourteen eggs on the 26th of May. The nests were situated on 

 the cliffs, composed of marine plants, and usually contained two eggs, 

 occasionally three. These eggs were procured by a person who was 

 suspended over the face of the cliff by a rope, like a spider hanging 

 by his web, an operation which has frequently been described. Com- 

 mon as these gulls are, there is something very pleasing in their ha- 

 bits and manners. How delightful is it to stand on some prominent 

 crag, with the ocean rolling at its base, and watch these birds of snowy 

 whiteness winging their spirit-like flight through the deep, deep space 

 which intervenes between us and the unresting waters ! Or to see a 

 party chasing each other over the bright blue waves ; one, perchance, 

 picking up a glistening mackerel, whilst the others are endeavouring 



