122
NOTES ON THE BLACK-HEADED GULL.
the nests, and others were cracking the shells and hatching, and
there were many eggs in pairs and single ones.
I had landed from a boat at the far side of the creek, but
was not to pass unnoticed, for before long I was espied by Mr.
Cross of the adjoining farm, who came riding down across the
flats to see what I was doing, proving that any pillagers with
bad intent would with difficulty escape his keen watchful eye.
We two, however, had met before, and he readily forgave me my
intrusion on his property.
On May 20th, he informed me, he had counted 60 nests of
Black-Headed Gulls upon the saltings, and he thought the birds
had certainly increased during the last year or two, although the
spring tides still wash and carry away many of the eggs.
The gulls, he said, had now almost deserted the fresh water
fleets farther inland, amid the thick flags and weeds of which
they were formerly wont to make their nests, and nearly all of
them had migrated to the neighbouring saltings.
I was much pleased with the account he gave, and left
Gullery No. 2 feeling well satisfied with the condition of affairs ;
sailing the next day to West Mersea where I hoped to encounter
on Tollesbury Marshes a similar pleasant experience.
But I am sorry to say there were no gulls there this year
(1901). In 1898 there were only a very few, in 1899 there was a
good-sized colony, on one of the large fresh water fleets, but the
spring of 1901 was a remarkably dry one, and already early in
June the water was extremely low in the ponds and ditches.
This might account for the desertion of the birds, but my own
impression is, as I have said before, that the gulls are reverting
to an old habit, and prefer nesting on the saltings, and doubtless
the colony from Tollesbury had followed suit. There was not a
Black-Headed Gull to be seen on those dreary level flats, and I
spent the best part of an afternoon in a fruitless search ; so
Gullery No. 3 must be erased this year out of my list, and very
probably will not appear again.
The result then of these investigations for 1901 consists in
my being able to report, that two strong Gulleries, instead of
three, are still flourishing in the county, with every promise that
they will thrive and further increase in the future; my only
regret being that Gullery No. 1 in Hamford Water can boast of