. British birds' nests; how, where, and when to find and identify them . wandererin winter. Notes: a j^laintive whine. Local andother names: Sea Turtle, Greenland Dove, Dovekie,Scraber, Tyste, Puffinet. Gregarious. Sits to the open sea, except during the breedingseason and when driven ashore by stress of weather. GULL, BLACK-HEADED. Description of Parent Birds.—Length about six-teen inches. Bill moderately long, nearly straight,and lake-red. Irides hazel; eyelids crimson. Headand upper part of throat dark brown. Back andsides of neck white. Back and wings (except someof the prima
. British birds' nests; how, where, and when to find and identify them . wandererin winter. Notes: a j^laintive whine. Local andother names: Sea Turtle, Greenland Dove, Dovekie,Scraber, Tyste, Puffinet. Gregarious. Sits to the open sea, except during the breedingseason and when driven ashore by stress of weather. GULL, BLACK-HEADED. Description of Parent Birds.—Length about six-teen inches. Bill moderately long, nearly straight,and lake-red. Irides hazel; eyelids crimson. Headand upper part of throat dark brown. Back andsides of neck white. Back and wings (except someof the primaries, which are black at the tips, and onsome of the margins with white shafts), uniformlavender-grey. Tail-coverts and quills white. Lowerfiont of neck, breast, and all under parts, and feet lake-red ; claws black. The female is similar to the male. The above description is of a solitary pair shotwhilst nesting in June on a northern moorlandtarn. The Black-headed Gull is subject to con-siderable variation in plumage, not only in regardto season but BLACK-HEADED GULL. 114 BRITISH BIRDS NESTS. Sittidfioji and LocaUtij.—Ou the ground, in atussock of coarse grass, tuft of rushes, or a shghthohow on the bare ground; in swamps and bogs,at the edges of and on islands in tarns and large colonies at a great number of suitableplaces throughout the British Isles. Two famousplaces in England are Scoulton Mere in Norfolk,where the bird has nested in thousands for upwardsof three hundred years in succession, and at Pal-linsburn in Northumberland. Although gregarious,I have frequently met with solitary pairs nestingon small mountain tarns. Our illustration is froma photograph taken late in the season at ScoultonMere. Materials.—Sedges, rushes, tops of reeds, andwithered grass ; generally in small quantities, some-times quite absent, and at others in fairly largequantities, much depending upon the site chosen. Eggs.—Two to three ; usually the second number,an
Size: 1322px × 1890px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsne, bookyear1898
