2o6 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



neck much suffused and speckled with brown ; the legs are 

 duller. Immature birds resemble adults in- winter, but are 

 buffer, and their upper parts are speckled with greyish white. 

 In the same flock birds in various stages of immaturity or 

 seasonal change may be noticed, for all do not attain their 

 various plumages at the same time. Length, q ins. Wing, 

 6 ins. Tarsus, i in. 



Order LARIFORMES, Gulls, Terns, and 

 Skuas. 



Family LARID.^. 



Bill strong, tip recurved (Gulls, Skuas), straight and tapering 

 (Terns) ; cere present (Skuas) ; anterior toes webbed ; hind 

 toe present. 



Common Gull. Lams canus Linn. 



The Common Gull (Plate 89) ranges over northern Europe 

 and Asia, and, in winter, north Africa and the Chinese seas. 

 In the British Isles it is resident, a winter visitor, and a bird of 

 passage ; it breeds abundantly in Scotland and Ireland, but 

 not, usually, south of the Border. There are recent records 

 of isolated nests on the Fames, the English side of the Solway, 

 and Kent. 



Gulls as gulls are familiar, but the various species, owing 

 to changes of plumage and variability in size, are difficult to 

 identify ; the name Common Gull is a frequent source of error. 

 In most parts, especially in England and Wales, the Black-head 

 is the common gull, and as it loses its distinctive brown hood 

 in winter is confused with the present species. The Common 

 Gull is more robust, a stouter bird than the Black-head, but is 



