NOTES ON THE BIRDS OF ANGLESEA. 229 



no white in their tails ; the pale blue on the wing-coverts was, 

 however, very conspicuous. We saw one brood of birds, perhaps 

 ten days or a fortnight old, in a bed of Equisetum. The duck 

 rose close to our feet, and squattered in full view across the 

 water- crowfoot, which here, as it so frequently does in these 

 slow-flowing streams, covered the water — a sheet of white. 



On one of the lakes near Valley we saw a drake Pochard on 

 the 3rd and 8th of June, and on the later date a female Tufted 

 Duck on the same water. Both species probably nest sparingly 

 in Western Anglesea — the Tufted Duck certainly does. During 

 the third week of June, 1891, we constantly saw a drake Tufted 

 with two drake Pochards on Llyn Maelog, where, on Aug. 1st, 

 1892, a drake Tufted was killed by flapper-shooters, and a brood 

 of young in down, which were lurking in the reeds, were dis- 

 covered by the beaters, and shown to one of the writers. In May 

 and June, 1892, we saw Tufted Ducks on Llyn Penrhyn. 



More Black-headed Gulls are to be seen feeding in the fields 

 in Western Anglesea than in the north and east, and on an 

 island, covered with rank grass and a few willow-bushes, on one 

 of the lakes there is a farr-sized gullery — apparently the only 

 one in Anglesea. We could hear the thin cries of an army of 

 young birds on this island early in June, and estimated the 

 number of adults about the place at five hundred ; probably as 

 many more were away feeding. In October we saw Common 

 Gulls feeding in the fields with the resident species. On June 

 10th, 1897, we watched a Black Tern at Llyn Penrhyn (Zool. 

 1897, p. 329). 



We met with Herons frequently in the bogs and about the 

 lakes. At Treiowerth there is a heronry ; from the high road 

 we could see young birds standing in the nests in a belt of wood- 

 land, mostly spruce and ash. 



The Dabchick breeds on all the lakes, but the Great Crested 

 Grebe has, we fear, ceased to nest in Anglesea. Possibly old 

 birds and helpless young have fallen victims to the unsportsman- 

 like gunners who flock to Anglesea at the opening of the shooting- 

 season, and often fire without discrimination at any bird they 

 see on the lakes. In 1892 three pairs nested in a reed-bed at 

 Llyn Penrhyn ; one nest contained five eggs — an unusual num- 

 ber. In May of the following year we saw a pair on Llyn 



