T. A. JACKSON: NOTES ON THE BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



Red Grouse and a few Stonechats may be seen about here, as 

 well as numerous other common birds. By the time we have jjro- 

 gressed so far, the keeper will have emerged from his hut and joined 

 us : and we will noAv go forward with him, and inspect the nesting 

 ground of the Gulls. The keeper estimates the number of birds at 

 20,000, and judging by the noise and general appearance, he does not 

 overestimate them. At a little distance the ground looks white with 

 birds, they are so closely gathered together. As we draw near, the 

 birds nearest us rise from the ground and come screaming towards 

 us, some of them diving down in angry menace at our heads, coming 

 so close that the rush of their wings is almost alarming; and it 

 requires some little faith to assure us that they will not dash against 

 our faces, they come so lierccly to the attack. The ground actually 

 used for nesting upon has become quite altered in appearance, from 

 the effects of the guano deposited on it by the birds. In place of ling 

 a coarse tussocky grass has sprung up, and amongst this the nests 

 are formed, and the voung may be seen running about, although they 

 keep ' squat,' or hide if we come very near. The nest has no claim 

 to our admiration, being simply a hollow scratched on the top of a 

 tussock of grass, with sometimes a few straws laid round about. 

 The eggs, of which the full complement appears to be three, vary a 

 good deal in size, colour, and markings. The young, when first 

 hatched, are covered with a gray down, mottled with darker mark- 

 ings, and seem to leave the nest and run about and hide under the 

 tufts of grass almost as soon as hatched. There are numerous 

 remains of small crabs lying round the nests, so these evidently form 

 part of the food brought by the old birds. The young are some 

 time before they can fly, and when they do so, are easily distinguished 

 from the old birds by their gray colour. From inquiries made at 

 the 'Gull Moss ' I find that the time of incubation is a little over three 

 weeks. The old birds bring small fishes from the shore and grubs 

 from the fields as the principal food for the young ones. These 

 Gulls begin to lay eggs in the middle of April, and are about the 

 breeding-ground till the middle of July. Numbers of them at 

 times visit the fields during the summer, but after the middle of July 

 we only see odd birds when driven inland by stress of weather until 

 w^inter is over, and we can again enjoy the sight of their graceful 

 flight over the fields. 



From information given by Seebohm and Yarrell this bird seems 

 to have a wide geographical range, being found all over Europe, in 

 Egypt, and on the shores of the Mediterranean. Seebohm savs that the 

 nests when placed in wet situations are large piles of material to keep 

 the eggs above the water. These birds probably breed when two 



May 1887. 



