HERRING GULL 247 
Man many nests are placed among the blossoming sea-pinks 
which thickly carpet the promontories, and are great brown 
structures, entirely formed of the turf of these plants, the 
surface all round being torn and cut by the strong bills of 
the birds. The nests are not usually built on the sheerest 
crags, or directly over the sea, and they are often easily 
walked to, but sometimes also in a niche of an inaccessible 
precipice. They are often more or less sheltered by an 
outcrop behind them; the Herring Gull loves half cavern- 
ous situations. At the end of the season the place where 
many nests have been situated is often bare, and as it were 
burnt by the occupation of the birds. Out of the nesting 
season, the roosting places, even when on the range of the 
cliffs used for nesting, are usually low down and near the 
water’s edge. To such, numbers of Gulls may be seen re- 
turning regularly towards evening, and following definite 
routes in their line of flight. 
The eggs, almost invariably three in number, are some- 
times laid before April has ended, but much more frequently 
about the end of the first week in May, there being much 
uniformity in this respect. They vary much in the shade 
of colouring and abundance of markings. Mr. James 
Kewley has a specimen, of a uniform pale blue-green colour 
with only some dust-like specks near the large end; it is 
a little less than the normal size, and was in a nest with 
two others of an ordinary type.’ The young birds crawl 
about the brows as soon as hatched, showing much instinct 
in concealing themselves, and are jealously watched by the 
parents, even after to some degree acquiring the power of 
flight. As late as August, large mottled birds may be still 
seen on the lower portions of the rocks, with the large 
pure-plumaged parents standing guard, and in_ their 
clumsy essays at swimming, these nurslings are often 
1 Dwarf eggs are not very uncommon. On 21st July 19051 saw on the Calf 
a newly-built nest with one fresh egg. 
