146 GULL GROUP 



A notable feature in regard to this species is that it takes four 

 years to arrive at full maturity, so that the number of birds in the 

 speckled immature plumage is very great. 



In this gull, which does not exceed 24^ inches in length, the 

 back and wing-coverts are pale pearl-gre)' ; the rims of the eye- 

 lids light yellow ; the legs and feet flesh-coloured ; the head, neck, 

 and under-parts white ; the exposed portions of the primary quills, 

 when the wing is closed, black, and the tips white (instead of 

 black in the first and second, as in the common gull) ; while the 

 secondaries and scapulars are likewise white-tipped. In birds of the 

 year the upper- parts are mottled with buff and brown, the tail is 

 whitish with dark brown bars, and the quills arc sooty brown. In 

 the second year the upper -parts assume a greyish tinge and are 

 barred with brown, the head is nearly white with brown streaks, 

 and the primaries show faint white tips ; in the third year the back- 

 feathers are pale grey streaked with brown, and there is more 

 white on the outer primaries ; b}' the fifth \-car the full adult dress 

 is acquired. The chick is grej-ish buff, streaked and spotted above 

 with black. 



The most noticeable feature in connection with the breeding-habits 

 of this species is that it almost always nests in the neighbourhood of 

 the shore, generally on tall cliffs ; in Ireland, indeed, no inland nesting- 

 place is known, and it is only occasionally that gulls of this species 

 make their appearance even temporarily at any distance away from 

 the shore. The nests arc often congregated in colonies. The species 

 derives its English name from its partiality for fish, and its habit of 

 following in large flocks the shoals of herrings as they approach the 

 shore ; the gulls as they fly screaming round and round, sometimes 

 forming a cloud above the moving mass of fish, from which toll is 

 from time to time taken. Not that it is to be supposed that this 

 species subsists exclusivcl}' on fish ; on the contrar}', it is an inveterate 

 robber of other birds' eggs, and has been known to make a clean 

 sweep of the contents of a cormorant's breeding-place. These gulls 

 are also in the habit of attacking rabbits and smaller birds, and have 

 been known to frighten even a peregrine falcon and make it 

 relinquish its prey. Shell -fish are also stated to form a part of the 

 diet of these gulls, as is demonstrated by the heajjs of comminuted 

 shells disgorged on the spots they frequent. Unlike kittiwakes, 

 herring-gulls do not crowd their nests together ; and prefer sloping 

 surfaces between two steep portions of a cliff, to the ledges on the 

 scarped face of the cliff itself, which are so specially favoured by the 



