434 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



LESSEE BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



Lams fnscus, Linnseus. S.N., i., p. 225 (1766). 

 Mew or Sea-Mew. 



On the coast of Kent this bird is one of the most 

 numerous at all times of the year. The full-grown 

 young in their grey-brown mottled plumage are the 

 most imprudent of their race ; with those of the young 

 Herring-Gulls, they appear to have lost all fear, 

 approaching, as they do, close to the habitations of 

 man, seeking whatever may be thrown from the house, 

 especially from those cottages near the sea. 



Writing in 1865, Mr. W. H. Power says : " I observed 

 adult birds of this species early in July. They are, next 

 to the Black-headed, the most common Gull about the 

 creeks of Eainham ; as many as fourteen have been seen 

 together in one flock ; they are, however, exceedingly 

 wild, and it is seldom that one can get within gunshot 

 of them. This, and every other species of Gull about 

 the size of the Black-headed Gull, is in this neighbour- 

 hood called a " Cob." 



BLACK-HEADED GULL. 



Larus ridibundus, Linnaeus. >S'.iV., i., p. 225 (1766). 



Crock or Crocker. 



From ages past the beautiful rosy-breasted Black- 

 headed Gulls have had a colony or two during the 

 summer months in Eomney Marsh. Although greatly 

 diminished of late years (by the plunder of their eggs). 



