186 BLACK-HEADED GULLS IN ESSEX (1899).
From a distance I saw several Herons pursued by the
parent Gulls and an amusing sight it was to watch the manner
in which they were harried by the smaller birds and eventually
forced to beat a reluctant retreat from the sacred nurseries.
Hard by on the sea-beach I observed two fine Oyster-
catchers, who hovered over and around me uttering their long
drawn whistles, and it is very probable that they had some eggs
on the rough shingles which line the shore on the seaside.
GULLERY NO. 2.
" On Jam 28th, 1899, I visited the Gullery on the Tollesbury
flats, an account of which I wrote for the Essex Naturalist
last year (Vol. x., pp. 388-393). Again this year my first impres-
sions were those of disappointment, for on reaching the little
pond I then described, where in 1898 a small gullery existed, I
saw barely any gulls at all.
" The same enormous flock of Herring and Black-backed
Gulls were reposing on the sandy banks of the fleet close by and
there were numerous Ducks, Coots, Moorhens, and a few
Shelducks.
" There were only about eight Black-headed Gulls flying
overhead, but on reaching the shallow pond and ditches above
which they hung screaming, I discovered, to my surprise, a great
number of nests among the rushes. I waded into the shallow
water, by means of sea-boots, but found only one nest containing
three eggs. There were several neat little Moorhens' nests with
their usual large consignment.
" One or two of the gulls' nests seemed to be just building,
as the flags of which they were composed were quite green and
fresh, and they were all large structures raised above the level of
the water among the stunted reeds. I should have mistaken
them for Coots' nests, had I not been aware that the latter birds
scoop out a considerable hollow for the eggs, while the nests of
the gulls are almost flat on the top, a consequence of which is
that the eggs sometimes roll off into the water, as I have
found before now.
" The question whether the gulls do not make use of the
coots' nests, who hatch out earlier in the year, is one which I
have not the means so far to determine.
" A sad sight here met my eyes and made me pause. Lying
close by a large well-formed nest, I discovered a beautiful Black-
headed Gull quite dead, with a gaping wound in its back, and on