2 
IIERRIXG-GULL. 
Eider Ducks leave their nests exposed, these birds, in company with the Lesser Black-backed, would 
immediately swoop down and destroy the eggs. Before leaving the islands I had ample opportunities 
of the truth of these statements 5 on other parts of the coast also chaiges of a similar nature 
were brought against this species. On my last visit to the Ferns 1 was informed by the egg-gatherers 
that Herring-Gulls had of late years greatly decreased in numbers. As but few pairs now nested on the 
rocks, the price of their eggs to dealers and collectors was somewhat heavy compared with those of the 
Lesser Black-backed Gulls, the latter fetching but fourpenco a dozen, while the former were sold at three- 
pence each. As far as I could judge, the Ilerring-Gulls were considered too scarce to be plundered without 
fear of entirely exterminating the small colony still resorting to their old haunts. To distinguish the eggs 
of the two species, however, is almost impossible, and doubtless the one did duty for the other, giving 
equal satisfaction to the majority of purchasers. As previously stated, this species was far less abundant 
than the Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the large flocks keeping company with the luggers during the herring- 
fishing off the east coast. Small parties of twenty or even up to three or four times that number of adults 
mi"ht occasionally be seen ; but I never noticed them to form even a quarter of the immense gatherings 
met with during the height of the season. Though it does not need a skilled ornithologist to distinguish 
the juveniles of the two species when compared side by side, it is utterly impossible to form an opinion as 
to the identity of birds in that state of plumage in the clouds circling round the boats while the nets are 
being hauled. 
I have frequently remarked during autumn and winter that large flocks of Gulls, composed for the most 
part of the Lesser Black-backed, with a few of the Greater Black-backed and Herring-Gulls, make their 
appearance almost daily on Hickling Broad as well as on other of the larger sheets of fresh water in the east of 
Norfolk. The birds fly in from the sca-coast usually about midday, and after wheeling round the broad for a 
time, settle near the centre, where some hours are often spent ducking and slushing about in the water before they 
return to the sea. It is probable that these Gulls having made their morning meal on the coast or out at sea 
when the nets of the herring-boats were hauled, visit the inland waters to wash and drink. Immense numbers 
also are attracted to the broads should disease break out among the fish; in the summer of 1875, a few pike 
and rudd having perished from the effects of some impurity in the water, the Gulls eagerly sought out the 
decomposing remains floating round the edges *. About twenty years ago the whole of the finny tribe suffered 
severely from some unknown cause, the mortality being exceedingly heavy for several weeks. Gulls of all 
descriptions were reported by the natives to have arrived in swarms at that time to feast on the repulsive 
banquet provided by the rotten and bloated carcasses. 
During the autumn of 1871, when shooting on Breydon Water, I noticed quantities of dead eels floating in 
the tideway along the banks, while others in the last stage of disease were showing themselves on the surface. 
Immature birds of the two Black-backed and also of the Herring-Gulls were collected in numbers over the 
river, darting down with loud screams and fighting with the greatest fury over the choicest morsels. The 
excessively unpleasant condition of the food consumed by these birds may be judged by the fact that two of my 
puntmen, who had requested that a shot might be taken into the swarm of Gulls in order to secure feathers for 
bed-making, Avere utterly unable to make use of twelve or fourteen I turned over. The foul discharge running 
from the mouths of the birds rendered it impossible to pluck them ; and though an attempt was made to remove 
the feathers with a pair of shears, the unpleasant odour w'as found to be unbearable. I am entirely ignorant 
as to the cause or nature of the disease from which the eels suffered ; they, however, could often be seen 
♦ In this case there was no disease, the fish having been merely affected by some impurity in the water; the majority succeeded in making 
their escape by crowding up the dykes to avoid the flow from the main channel, those only that were shut into some remote corner succumbing 
to the effects of the poison. If taken out while sickly from the broad or river and placed on fish-trunks in the marsh-dykes they rapidly 
recovered. 
