THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



119 



end. The Puffin breeds in the same rocks at 

 Flambro' Head, laying a single egg at the far 

 end of some fissure, upon the bare rock or 

 earth. Jn some places they breed in rabbit 

 warrens, and have desperate lights with the 

 rightful owners for the possession of the bur- 

 rows. The egg is grayish-white, with a few 

 darker gray spots. The Razorbill accompanies 

 the two last at Flambro' Head in e(pial num- 

 bers, laying its egg, like them, on the bare 

 rock. The egg is not so elongated as those of 

 the Guillemot, blunter at the small end, The 

 ground color is always white, mure or less 

 obscured by black and brown shades and 

 blotches. Sometimes they are distinctly spot- 

 ted with round black spots. The Cormorant 

 and Shag breeds in several places around our 

 coast. The nests are made of seaweed, and 

 the eggs arc pale greenish, covered with a 

 softer white chalky substance, they are pro- 

 portionately longer than most other eggs, and 

 thickest about the middle, those of the Shag 

 are less than those of the Cormorant. The 

 Ganuet breeds on Ailsa Craig, Bass Kock, St. 

 Kilda, &c. The nest is composed of sea- 



j weed, and a single egg is laid, dirty white. 

 The common Tern, or Sea Swallow, used to 

 breed on Hornsey Mere, in Yorkshire, in large 

 quantities, but 1 believe it has ceased to do so 

 some years since ; it does, however, breed in 

 several other places. It simply makes a 

 hollow place in the sand, and places in it a 

 few bents, and lays three or four eggs, of a 

 greenish or olive brown color, blotched and 



. shaded with different shades of brown. The 

 Black-headed Gull used to breed commonly, 

 and no doubt still does, at Pilling Moss, in 

 North Lancashire, but the ground is pre- 

 served, and permission has to be obtained 

 before you can get access, but when you do 

 get in you can hardly step without treading 

 upon a nest. The eggs are laid on the top of 

 a tuft of grass or carex, and the eggs are olive 

 brown, blotched with darker brown and black. 



> The Kittiwake breeds commonly on the cliffs 



| north. A loose nest is made of seaweed and 

 dry grass, and two eggs are laid, ashy gray, 

 blotched with darker grey and brown. Three 

 or four of the larger Gulls breed on our coast, 

 \ but the eggs so nearly resemble each other 

 I that it would be useless to attempt to describe 

 their differences to a beginner. They are best 

 told by observing the birds. The Purge 

 Black-back is the largest Gull we have, and 

 its name sufficiently describes it. The Lesser 

 I Black-back is similar, but smaller; and the 

 Herring Gull has a pale blue back. All the 

 eggs are olive brown, blotched with dark 

 brown. The Fulmar Petrel is a common bird 

 on St. Kilda, nowhere else in Britain. The 

 slight nests are placed on the face of the high 

 sea cliffs, and one egg is laid, which is white. 



We have now gone through all the birds 

 which can be said to be ;it all common in 

 Britain, ami we hope that our instructions 

 will be found useful during the coming season 

 to those young egg collectors, of which there 

 are ma uv in all parts of England. A collection 

 of eggs is of no use whatever, unless you know 

 the bird to which each egg belongs, Eggs 

 incorrectly named are worse than no eggs at 

 all, as such are misleading, and prevent you 

 from discovering facts, which without them 

 you would endeavour to work out. The past 

 series of papers has been the merest cursory 

 glance at the different common kinds — merely 

 a key. We have not attempted to give any 

 illustrations, as we thought it better to reserve 

 these for the present, thinking they could 

 be done better at some future time in a more 

 extended and improved, and, perhaps, a sepa- 

 rately published treatise. 



The common rat was not known in this 

 country before 1736. It is generally thought 

 it came from Hanover. Before its intro- 

 duction into this country a smaller black 

 rat existed, which is now very rare, being 

 almost entirely exterminated by the present 

 one. 



