THE GULL. 
407 
The produce of the island being valuable, is completely 
cleared off in the course of the Winter, except the brushwood 
and trees ; so that in the early Spring it is in a very con- 
venient state for the accommodation of the birds, the details 
of whose operations are as follows. 
About the middle of February, for an hour or two in the 
course of the day, their well-known cry may he heard, high 
in the air, proceeding from a few stragglers. This goes on 
till about the end of the month, when, and in the first days 
of March, they appear in detachments of about fifty, flying 
near to the water, hut never alighting upon it, being appa- 
rently occupied in reconnoitring, and departing after an hour 
or two. In a few days the numbers increase to detachments 
of about three or four hundred, hut still departing after they 
have made their observations. Invariably, however, about 
the 8th of March, they come in thousands, settle upon the 
water, and take possession of the island. 
The people on the spot have learned from their fathers, 
and it is confirmed by their own observation, that the day 
after Hingham fair, which is on the 7th March, is that on 
which the Scoulton Pies, as they call them, come to the 
mere. They are, as their English name, “ the Laughing 
Gull,” implies, garrulous and noisy birds, being rarely silent 
for more than one hour out of the twenty-four. In about a. 
fortnight they pair and begin to build ; their nests are very 
simple, a few cross pieces of the softer remnants of the reeds 
and grass, and so closely packed together on the favourite 
spots by the edge of the water, that an outspread hand would 
touch two or three of them. They lay three thin-shelled 
eggs, and instantly begin to sit, so that the egg-gatherers 
are obliged to he on the alert to take them before that process 
begins. For some time no eggs were allowed to be taken, 
hut on its being ascertained that, in consequence of so many 
being hatched at once, several were starved, a certain propor- 
tion only were preserved, and the remainder are for a few 
weeks taken, that there may he a succession in the hatches of 
the broods. 
The number of eggs collected annually varies from fifteen 
