sumed. It has been observed that the change of colour is not caused by a moulting of the feathers, but that the pigment slowly spreads over them and afterwards disappears without any change of plumage. The note of this gull is a harsh cackle, and has led to its being called by some writers the "laughing-gull." The true laughing gull, however, is a distinct species.

There are a few other noted breeding-places of this gull in England, notably one at Twigmoor, where the spot is such as to suit their apparent requirements, namely, shallow water, and spongy, almost inaccessible marshes; but Scoulton Mere is the most numerous colony known. It was, therefore, with some degree of pleasure that I found business required my presence within two miles of the mere. It was a beautiful July day, and the drive through the well-farmed country to Hingham, and thence to Scoulton, was extremely pleasant. The corn-fields gave promise of a splendid harvest, and their cool green waves were agreeably diversified with the scarlet poppies, or "redweed" of the farmer. From some cause or other, there appeared to be an unusual abundance of these, and some fields showed more scarlet than green; others were apparently free from the flowers save in the furrows; and as we sped by, behind a fast horse, the alternate green of the corn and the scarlet flash of the radiating fur

rows, with the deep, dark green of the woods behind, and intensest summer blue above, afforded a rare contrast of colour to the artistic eye.

The mere, we found, lay in a sheltered spot, bordered, however, by the road on its most open side. Leaving the highway, we entered a cool avenue of magnificent rhododendron bushes, quite ten feet in height, and presently came to the boat-house. Embarking in a wide tub of a boat, and impelled by a pair of the stoutest sculls one could well imagine—and none too stout to make any way among the thick weeds-we pushed out into the open water. The mere, with its islands, contains some eighty acres. The large flat marsh in the middle, locally called the Hearth, and by Bewick the "haft," contains a large proportion of the eighty acres. The greater part of it is covered with low bushes, and long reeds, flags, and grass, and is very spongy and wet. On this the gulls breed. Their nests are built on the ground, and are not a yard apart. They are of somewhat similar character to those of the coots and waterhens; made of aquatic vegetation, and but very slightly cup-shaped. Like those of the last-named birds too, they are, in places where the water is likely to rise and flood them, raised a foot, or even more, above the surface, but they invariably have their foundation upon it. Only once has a nest been found in one of the low

bushes, and this was probably a freak on the part of some eccentric bird of experimentive genius. The nests are too loosely built, and have too little cohesion, to rest safely among branches. The eggs are generally three in number, and of a yellowish olive brown, spotted with darker brown; but, as in the case of the guillemot's egg, there is great variety in the colour. Sometimes they are of light, unspotted blue.

The mere has been a breeding-place from time immemorial. Its attractions consist undoubtedly in the shallowness of its waters, averaging only two or three feet in depth over the greater part of it, as we found by sounding with the oars; and the consequent abundance of weeds—both causes adducing to the prolixity of insect life. Add to this the advantages offered for a safe breeding-place by the "hearth,” and marshy ground in the vicinity, some parts of which are even now inaccessible to the practised marshman, and the whole of which must have once been in a similar condition. Once fixed upon as a breeding-place, nothing but the extermination of the gulls would have caused its abandonment. And had it not been strictly preserved by the proprietor, and a fine belt of trees planted around it, to secure it from intrusion, it would doubtless have been ere this a thing of the past.

In February the gulls begin to gather together on

the sea-coast, and a flock of them comes to Scoulton as pioneers, wheeling around and around for a while, and then darting away, to return in a few days with more. In a month the great body will have arrived, and the nesting begins. If disturbed, they rise into the air in countless numbers, seeming in the distance like a snowstorm. The noise of their swooping wings and their harsh cries is deafening. They may be seen sweeping round the branches of the trees, picking off the "locusts," as the country people term the cockchafers, or foraging over the fields in flocks, like white rooks. Mice are eagerly devoured by them, and it is even said that young birds are swallowed sometimes; but this I very much doubt. I never met anybody who had seen an instance of such cannibalism in the gull tribe. The eggs are laid in April and May, and by the end of June all the broods are hatched. This is the time to pay a visit to the mere. The end farthest from the road is the part most frequented by the birds, and there they sit on the water in thousands, swimming as light as a feather, the variegated plumage of the old and young having a striking effect. Formerly the old birds seem to have been killed for the sake of eating, but now the eggs are taken instead, and are boiled and eaten cold, like lapwings' eggs, to which they have a similar taste, but are not quite so good. They are

sometimes palmed off upon an unwary purchaser as lapwings' eggs; but the fraud may easily be detected, as there is a decided difference in the shape of the egg, to say nothing of the colour. The right of collecting and selling the eggs used to be rented for fifteen pounds a year. I do not know whether this is the case now, but the eggs are collected and sold on the spot for eighteen-pence or two shillings a score, and at much higher prices in Norwich and Lynn markets. The gathering of the eggs is no easy task, owing to the spongy and dangerous nature of the soil, and the vigorous swoops of the indignant gulls around the intruder's head. Only the first laying is taken, and only a prescribed number of raids is made in the season. Afterwards the birds are left to hatch their young in peace. The number collected is about fifteen hundred or two thousand a day, and sometimes three thousand. From this fact some idea of the enormous number of birds may be gained. Once, after the gulls had had a year of rest, the enormous number of forty thousand eggs was gathered in one season.

In July and August the gulls begin to leave and make their way to the sea-coast. They can be heard passing overhead in the night, and a few years ago a large flock came over Norwich and were attracted and confused by the glare of the lamps, for many were found

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