Gyngell : A Naturalist's Holiday- 



The sea itself, but two miles distant, was entirely obscured 

 by the summer haze, but away over the mists full forty miles 

 the topmost peaks of the Isle of Man k shone in the light of 

 declining- day.' Full of pleasant anticipation, I returned to the 

 little lane of whitewashed cottages and retired at a healthy 

 hour. 



Next morning- a tremendous thunderstorm somewhat delayed 

 my first introduction to the birds, but, the rain slightly abating, 

 in company with the gamekeeper I took a boat, crossed the 

 estuary, and landed on the shingly beach which runs up into 

 bays among the sandhills. Walking over the undulating sand, 

 in a few minutes we arrived amongst the Black-headed Gulls, 

 whose agitation and excitement increased every moment as 

 we approached their unprotected nests, scattered in hundreds 

 amongst the little hillocks and hollows of fine loose sand, bare 

 but for the scanty growth of fine rushes known as Marram-grass. 



This species of gull, with sooty-brown head, pearl-grey back 

 and white under parts, is one of the commonest ; and in the 

 neighbourhood, of its haunts may often be seen following the 

 plough twenty miles inland. The ist of June, the day of our 

 visit, was too late to find their eggs in great number. Most of 

 the young were hatched and out of the nest, crouching in the 

 scant cover or running before our feet, and so abundant were 

 they that it was almost impossible to walk about without crush- 

 ing- them under foot. Pretty little creatures covered with 

 yellowish down spotted with black, they were a constant source 

 of anxiety to their bewildered parents whose querulous screams 

 rent the air. 



The nests are mere hollows in the sand, lined with the dead 

 rush, which is mainly added during incubation. The eggs are 

 usually two or three, rarely four, and these vary wonderfully in 

 ground colour, which, usually a warm shade of stone, is occasion- 

 ally pale blue ; and the blackish-brown and ash-grey markings 

 which usually embellish the eggs may be almost entirely absent. 

 Thus, to select good varieties, it is necessary to visit the colony 

 when all the birds are laying and then take your toll. 



The rain, which had abated when we entered the gullery, 

 now returned in torrents, and much marred the interest of bird 

 study ; but naturalists are ever waterproof, and, like Gulliver 

 amongst the Lilliputians, we picked our careful way through the 

 gull chicks to the highest part of the sandhills and approached 

 the colony of Sandwich Terns, to see which was one of the chief 

 objects of my visit. These birds rose in a small dense flock 



Naturalist, 



