SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 249 



the whole of the excreta of these birds was composed of 

 pure crushed shells of one and two year old cockles. In a 

 few cases the fragments of cockle shells were mixed with 

 crushed shells of " Henpens " (Tellina halthica). Excreta 

 consisting of pure " Henpen " shells was only observed in 

 two instances. In the interval between the visits, a good 

 deal of shooting had been done and it was impossible to 

 get close to the gulls which were much more numerous 

 than before, and were scattered in nocks all over the sands. 

 The excreta again consisted of little else than the crushed 

 shells of cockles. The gulls that I watched feeding simply 

 picked the cockles directly out of the sand, but the fisher- 

 men state that they have frequently seen them tread the 

 sand with their webbed feet with a similar effect to the use 

 of the " Jumbo " only on a smaller scale. The birds then 

 eat the cockles brought to the surface. The fishermen say 

 that the adoption of a close time for gulls under the Wild 

 Birds Protection Acts has led to a vast increase in the 

 number of birds produced each year, they are becoming 

 less afraid of man, and are the chief cause of the decreasing 

 yield of cockles at Mookburgk. From the observations I 

 made, I saw that the gulls follow the track of the " Jumbo " 

 pretty much as they follow the plough on land and eat the 

 cockles that remain at the surface. The Rev. J. Fowler, 

 who has lived at Cark for 13 years, says there has been an 

 extraordinary increase in the number of gulls in his ex- 

 perience. He has frequently seen many thousands of 

 these birds feeding on the sands, and within recent years 

 two gulleries have become established on Holker Mosses, 

 between Cark and Haverthwaite. Dr. Jenkins in his 

 report for the Quarter ending December, 1904, gives a 

 chart of Morecambe Bay showing the cockle beds and the 

 gulleries. He made a personal visit to the beds and agreed 

 with the statements made in previous Quarterly Reports 



