LAEID.‘E. 
84-i 
cedure they find some consolation for their own frequent dis- 
comfiture, in precisely the same way, at the hands of the Arctic 
Skua, which leads them a sad life at times, plundering them 
with impunity. Occasionally also the Herring Gull would 
seem to fall in with a far sterner foe than the merry little 
Shooi, for I have seen a Peregrine Falcon seated upon a great 
stone at Swina Hess, with the ground all round it strewn with 
bones and feathers, among which the remains of first year’s 
birds of this species were to he distinguished, though Sand- 
pipers of various kinds had formed the staple of the food. 
I was once witness to a curious freak, if so it was to he called, 
on the part of this bird, for which I could never find a satisfactory 
explanation. It happened in the island of Uyea that a friend 
and I, in walking round, disturbed a large flock of Herring 
Gulls which were upon the gvass, under the lee of a high wall. 
All rose hut one, and that one appeared to he unable to fly, 
and we easily ran it down. After examining it, and finding 
nothing the matter with the bird, we let it go. "WTien it had 
run about two hundred yards my companion thought he 
would try a shot at it with ball. He struck the turf about a foot 
on one side of it, and instantly, to our surprise, up got the 
Gull, and off it flew to join the others. This was in the 
beginning of May, a week or two before the first eggs are 
usually found. 
The nest of the Herring Gull is usually placed upon a 
grassy ledge among the cliffs, the birds sometimes scraping 
away a little of the earth or loose stones to afford additional 
security. The materials used are dry grass and such plants as 
can be procured in the neighbourhood, worked up into a some- 
what substantial structure. The eggs are three in number, 
and where four are found in a nest, as sometimes happens, I 
liave every reason to believe that the additional one has been 
deposited by a second female. The variations in colouring are 
so many as to render almost impossible an accurate discrimi- 
nation between the eggs of this species and those of the Gull last 
described. On the average, however, the eggs of the Herring 
