29 
brown to light unspotted blue. Amongst them also are found, as 
with the eggs of domestic fowls, a considerable number dwarfed 
and misshapen to a strange degree ; but whether these are to be 
considered as exceptional only, in a natural sense, amongst the 
hundreds of eggs gathered, or arc in any way attributable to the 
systematic robbery of those first laid, 1 am not prepared to say. 
.Notwithstanding tlie watchful care of the keepers, the young, as 
soon as hatched, have many dangers to contcmd with besides the 
chance of suffocation, or a scarcity of food, as it is almost impossible 
to extirpate tlio rats, weasels, and other vermin, which arc irresist- 
ibly attracted by the strong scent of tlie birds. N"or are the 
nestlings much more safe on the water than on the land, since they 
form a tender monsel for a hungry pike, and eels have been known 
to attach themselves to these swimming puff-balls, and sink with 
them to tlie muddy deptlis of the iSIere. 
So much, then, as to the nesting habits of the black-headed 
gull, which, for a considerable portion of the year, as before stated, 
is essentially a land gull, following the plough in search of worms, 
grubs, and insects, and even small mammalia ; and being thus in 
every way the farmer’s friend, deserving at his hands of every 
possible protection and encouragement. 
Occasionally they have been known to devour small birds when 
pressed for food, but, as a rule, I believe, their carnivorous tastes 
incline rather to felt than feathers, and so fond are they of mice, 
that they will catch them when thrown up into the air with 
wonderful dexterity, rarely allowing them to fall to the ground, 
they have also been seen on a summer’s evening hawking for 
cockchafers under tbe shade of lofty elms, and the various small 
moths that swarm aroumi the sedgy borders of the IMere are 
favourite objects of pursuit. 
As before stated, at the close of the breeding season, young and 
old betake themselves to the sea coast, where, throughout the 
autumn, they are by far the most abundant of tbe smaller gulls 
that seek their food upon the muds and sand banks of our tidal 
estuaries ; and even in the most severe weather they may be seen 
in flocks upon their accustomed feeding grounds. 
I have resison, however, to believe that very many also pass 
southwards in the autumn and winter, from the fact, that when, as 
liappen? not unfrecpiently on dark autumnal nights, immense flocks 
