LINCOLNSHIRE GULLERIES. 



143 



years, and have visited it on frequent occasions, having spent 

 many pleasant hours watching the habits of the birds, or dis- 

 cussing them with the keeper over a substantial tea of fried 

 Gull's eggs and home-cured ham. Besides the Gulls, many 

 interesting species have made this common their home. Buffs 

 and Beeves bred here in 1860 and even later, and Stone Curlews 

 until 1886, and Short-eared Owls until about 1882 ; these Owls 

 are at the present day often turned out of the heather by winter 

 sportsmen in the district, and possibly a pair or two will some 

 year remain to nest in the home of their ancestors. Nightjars 

 at the present time flit about the common on summer evenings 

 like giant moths, and Stock-Doves clatter from under the in- 

 truder's feet off their two eggs laid in rabbit-holes among the 

 heather. Lapwings breed abundantly, and from two to three 

 hundred eggs are taken by the keeper during some seasons. In 

 spring and summer the " drumming" noise produced by the 

 nesting Snipe is heard on every side, and the shrill warning cry 

 of the Bedshank strikes the ear. Many pairs of the latter 

 species nest in the neighbourhood, and I have seen the eggs in 

 May laid in the middle of a tuft of grass on a little mound 

 rising from a shallow pool. 



Mallard, Teal, and Shovelers breed in some abundance near 

 the Gull-ponds, and in some seasons a pair or two of Sheld- 

 Duck. 1 have caught here in my hands newly-hatched Sheld- 

 Ducks, and have wondered at the marvellous agility these little 

 mites of a few days old can display at swimming and diving. 

 The parent bird would fly close round my head while I was 

 handling the young, and showed great concern until these were 

 released. The Shovelers conceal their eggs among the dry grass 

 and long heather, and when almost trodden on the sitting duck 

 shuffles away and tries the broken-wing trick. I should think 

 that quite a dozen pairs of Shovelers nest some seasons in various 

 parts of the common. The nests of Little Grebes, Coots, and 

 Moorhens may also be found by wading in the shallow water. 



It will be seen from this account that the Black-headed Gull 

 nests abundantly at the present day in three main colonies in 

 North-west Lincolnshire, in company with other species of birds 

 scarce during the nesting season in many parts of our islands. 

 These gulleries are probably overflow settlements from each other, 



