230 
BIRDS. 
One recorded in Shearer and Osborne's List was first brought 
under notice by Sir W. Jardine {Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc, vol. i. 
p. 4, and vol. ii. p. 57) as the first time this species had 
occurred in this country, and one was shot at Thrumster in 
November 1854 ^ (Glray, Birds of the West of Scotland). Mr. 
James Sutherland is said to have seen the species also, but 
since then we have no records of this rare bird in our district 
until the year 1885, when Mr. John Guille MiUais shot 
a very perfect adult specimen at the Bishop's Castle, Thurso, 
on the 30th December 1885, which is now in his collection. 
Mr. MiUais informed us of it by letter immediately after- 
wards, and it is fully recorded in the Northern Chronicle 
of 6th January 1886. The bird was exhibited by him at a 
meeting of the Zoological Society of London on March 2d, 
1886.2 
341. Larus atricilla, L. Laughing Gull. 
342. Larus ridibundus, L. Black-headed Gull. 
Common, and resident on the east coast ; choosing some 
extremely swampy place to breed in, inaccessible, as a rule, 
owing to the depth of the surrounding mud. 
Much rarer in the west. Seen following the harrows 
at Durness, and breeds in a considerable colony at Loch 
Borralaigh along with terns, perhaps the only colony in 
the west or north-west of our district. Breeds also in the 
north-east in a colony near Bettyhill (Savile G. Keid's 
Journals). 
Caithness names — " Hoodie-Headie-Graw," "Peewit Chill^' 
" Mire Crow" " Pick Mire." A common species, breeding 
1 Sir W. Jardine seems to have considered this specimen to belong to an 
allied form — P. brachytarsus of HolboU {Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc, vol. ii. p. 57, 
Jan. 1859, and also vol. i. p. 4) — but we are not aware that there is any necessity 
to insist upon this point. 
* Harting includes twenty-two specimens of the ivory gull, four of which 
relate to Orkney, Shetland, and Caithness (Handbook, pp. 174, 175). 
