long inland journeys in rough weather, in these instances
almost invariably travelling to windward, as, indeed, is
the case with most Gulls and many other maritime
birds. This bird, according to authors better informed
than myself, generally selects low grassy spots for its
nest; in the only instance in which I have found it
breeding the chosen spot was a rushy bog surrounding
a small lonely lake at a considerable distance from the
sea, the nests were composed of twigs of heather and
coarse grasses, and contained two or three eggs apiece.
In Northamptonshire we are annually visited by stray
single birds of this species from August till March, and
in winter flood-times large numbers occasionally visit our
valley in company with other Gulls, and subsist during
their stay on the drowned-out earthworms in our
meadows.
