BIRDS OF THE RAVENGLASS GULLERY. 163 
flat grassy spaces among the dunes, where the turf is gay with 
patches of flowers of the common storksbill, a blue heartsease, 
restharrow, yellow sedum, centaury, and other plants. The 
Gulls, old and young, affect these open flats, where they collect 
in parties to rest or preen their feathers, and the Common Tern 
nests on them in some numbers. The birds are strictly pro- 
tected, but the gullery may, by the courtesy of the owner, Lord 
Muneaster, be visited under certain conditions. It may be 
approached by a rather toilsome walk over the sandhills from 
Seascale or Driggs, or more conveniently from Ravenglass, 
whence, on production of the necessary permit, one can be ferried 
across the harbour. 
The Black-headed Gull, the Sandwich and the Common Terns, 
are the dominant birds of the gullery, but many pairs of Sheld- 
Duck (Tadorna cornuta) nest in rabbit-burrows on the dunes. 
These Ducks, less shy than in places where they are persecuted, 
are often to be seen feeding in the harbour within a few yards of 
the village. On June 23rd some tell-tale down at the mouth of 
a rabbit-burrow in one of the colonies of Common Terns guided 
me to a clutch of eggs, but by that date the majority of the young 
birds had been hatched. Many broods were feeding on the mud- 
flats at low water, and when the tide was in followed the old 
birds in a straggling line as they swam from place to place. On 
one occasion I saw two old birds in attendance on seventeen 
ducklings; these belonged to two broods at least, for they were 

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 (Hoicws 
lanatus). 2. The smooth-stalked meadow-grass (Poa pratensis). 3. The 
sweet-scented vernal grass (Anthocanthum odoratuwm). 4. The broad 
smooth-leaved willow-herb (Hpilobium montanuwm). 5. The buttercup 
(Ranunculus ?). 6. The sorrel-dock (Rumex acetosa). 7. The ragged 
robin (Lychnis 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. ... To these I may add 
that nettles extensively abound, and also that the common fern is to be met 
with here, which latter plant is almost peculiar to a dry soil... . Noone 
who formerly knew this Moss, and has witnessed the recent remarkable 
change, doubts for a moment that it has all been entirely effected by the 
dung of these birds deposited on the Moss during the breeding season ; for 
as far as the nests of these birds have extended, and even somewhat further, 
the change in the herbage may be distinctly traced.” .. . 

02 
