44 Mr. H. Durnford on some Birds observed 
nesting-ground, or rookery, as they term it, of Black-headed 
Gulls at New Bay, about forty miles from the village. About 
three miles east from Pot harbour, which is at the western¬ 
most point of New Bay, and a short distance from the beach, 
on low sandy ground, is a breeding-place of Black-headed 
Gulls. The nests are placed close together; and three eggs 
is the number usually laid. I was assured by one of the 
colonists, an old whaler, who knows the coast well, that the 
birds commence to lay on or about the 10th December ; and 
another colonist informed me that when on one occasion they 
were fishing in New Bay, they frequently went ashore to col¬ 
lect the eggs, which they prized as food, and this was about 
a week before Christmas; he also told me that amongst the 
Black-headed Gulls were a few pairs of a large black-backed 
Gull (which could have been nothing else but L. dominicanus) 
whose eggs they were also in the habit of eating. During 
my visit to the colony, L. maculipennis was frequently pointed 
out to me as the bird nesting near Pot harbour; and as that 
is the only Hooded Gull I saw, and is well known to the 
colonists, some of whom have visited the Gullery, I have 
little doubt my informants were correct. 
I had one day made partial arrangements for a journey to 
Pot harbour, no slight undertaking, as water has to be taken 
for both man and beast for the journey to and fro, and was 
only prevented from completing them through being assured 
by the whaler mentioned above that he had many times visited 
the spot, and that the birds did not lay before the 10th De¬ 
cember. This agrees with my observations, as just previous 
to and during the first ten days of my visit this species was 
far more numerous than when I left on the 29th November, 
on which date very few birds were to be seen. 
Capt. Musters mentions that during his travels with the 
Tehuelches they came across a large Gullery in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of lagoons of considerable size a few leagues from 
the Cordillera, and, as far as I can make out, in about lat. 
42° 50' S. It would be especially interesting to know what 
species this could have been ; for if L. maculipennis is regularly 
