230 
British Birds : 
B September IRamble in tbe 3sle of Miobt. 
By H. GooDCHiLD, M.B.O.U. 
On a glorious Antuniii day, when life was a pleasant reality 
and one felt the joy of living, I turned niy back o;i smoky, grimy 
London and sped down seawards, hound for the Isle of Wight, on 
a visit to our esteemed member Mr. H. Willford. It had been 
foggy in London in the earlier liours, but before ten in the morn- 
ing, when I was clear of London and its smoke, I found an almost 
cloudless sky, a south-west wind, and a smiling landscape that 
might well have tempted our little summer migrants to prolong 
their stay on our hospitable shores, and whicli made me glad that 
the Fates had ordained I should be out of London, if only for a 
few daj's, to pursue my artistic avocation in the sunny South. I 
looked with renewed interest at the country around Claygate, as 
I had there been on an ornithological ramble with friends who 
liad tastes similar to my own ; and as we sped through Liphook, 
I bethought me that that was the nearest point on the route to 
the classic ground written of so lovingly by Gilbert White, in his 
"Natural History of Selborne," and recalled his remark "The 
parish I live in is a very abrupt, uneven country, full of hills and 
woods, and therefore full of birds." 
Arrived at Portsmouth Harbour, I could not but admire 
the beautiful blue-green the water showed, so different to the 
water in the port of London. Two or three species of Gull were 
flying over the Harbour, but my knowledge of Gulls is somewhat 
rudimentar\% and tho.se that were in immature plumage — and 
most of them were in it — were beyond my comprehension. One 
large fellow in particular, which might have been a Lesser Black- 
backed Gull, was in especiall}^ perfect immature plumage, and as 
he wheeled and soared above the water, seemed as if he had every 
feather complete and in its proper place. As we crossed the 
Solent to Ryde, I caught sight of one of the sea-birds proper, 
perhaps a Guillemot, but it dived just as I noticed it, and I could 
not say what it was. Around Ryde Pier also, nearly all the Gulls 
were marked with the brown spots or patches of immaturity, and 
I did not attempt to identify them. 
During the ten days I had the pleasure of being Mr. 
Willford's guest, I noted such wild birds as came my way, and 
