382 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



in various directions there are belts, and thin patches of small 

 stunted trees and bushes from six to fifteen feet high. This has 

 somewhat the effect of dividing the whole tract into separate 

 open plains, each of which would be dotted over with single 

 small trees or bushes, quite a number of which I noticed to be 

 dead and bare of leaves. Over this area are scattered the 

 Lesser Black-backed Gulls' nests. They are not by any means 

 placed close together, the distance between the nests averaging 

 from forty to fifty yards. As there are a great number of birds, 

 the area covered by their nests is considerable. I found most of 

 the eggs were hatched out, and there were many of the young 

 ones skulking about in the undergrowth. The colour of the 

 down of these was a sandy yellow with black mottlings, the 

 bill black with a white tip, and the legs and feet lead colour. 

 The down of a bird only just out of the egg was grey with black 

 mottlings, which points to a possibility of the colour of the 

 down altering as the age of the bird increases. I examined 

 many nests, which, although tolerably easy to find, required to 

 be looked for. The keeper who was with me found them so 

 .rapidly that I scarcely had time to find any myself. He told me 

 that what he looked out for as he walked through the heather 

 was the white downy feathers of the old birds stuck on the 

 heather-bushes. In most cases there were one or more runs or 

 passages up to the nest itself, and, as the bird passes through 

 these, it leaves odd feathers hanging on twigs and branches, and 

 by the quantity of feathers around the nest you can form a rough 

 idea as to the state of the incubation of the eggs. There were 

 a few nests with two eggs, but the majority had three in them. 

 All that I blew contained fully-formed chickens, and the keeper 

 told me that there were birds laying as early as the begin- 

 ning of April. At the same time none of the young birds I saw 

 were able to make any attempt at flight. There was a con- 

 siderable similarity in the construction of the nests, which 

 showed signs of much more care than in those of the Black- 

 headed Gull, the material forming them being almost felted 

 together into concave pads, the hollows measuring roughly 9 to 

 10 in. diameter, by lj to 2j in. deep. One nest I examined was 

 placed between some big tussocks of coarse grass, the materials 

 used for the pad being moss, grass-blades, small twigs, and a few 



