Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/448

382 in various directions there are belts, and thin patches of small stunted trees and bushes from six to fifteen feet high. This has somewhat the effect of dividing the whole tract into separate open plains, each of which would be dotted over with single small trees or bushes, quite a number of which I noticed to be dead and bare of leaves. Over this area are scattered the Lesser Black-backed Gulls' nests. They are not by any means placed close together, the distance between the nests averaging from forty to fifty yards. As there are a great number of birds, the area covered by their nests is considerable. I found most of the eggs were hatched out, and there were many of the young ones skulking about in the undergrowth. The colour of the down of these was a sandy yellow with black mottlings, the bill black with a white tip, and the legs and feet lead colour. The down of a bird only just out of the egg was grey with black mottlings, which points to a possibility of the colour of the down altering as the age of the bird increases. I examined many nests, which, although tolerably easy to find, required to be looked for. The keeper who was with me found them so rapidly that I scarcely had time to find any myself. He told me that what he looked out for as he walked through the heather was the white downy feathers of the old birds stuck on the heather-bushes. In most cases there were one or more runs or passages up to the nest itself, and, as the bird passes through these, it leaves odd feathers hanging on twigs and branches, and by the quantity of feathers around the nest you can form a rough idea as to the state of the incubation of the eggs. There were a few nests with two eggs, but the majority had three in them. All that I blew contained fully-formed chickens, and the keeper told me that there were birds laying as early as the beginning of April. At the same time none of the young birds I saw were able to make any attempt at flight. There was a considerable similarity in the construction of the nests, which showed signs of much more care than in those of the Black-headed Gull, the material forming them being almost felted together into concave pads, the hollows measuring roughly 9 to 10 in. diameter, by 1½ to 2½ in. deep. One nest I examined was placed between some big tussocks of coarse grass, the materials used for the pad being moss, grass-blades, small twigs, and a few