156 GULL GROUP 



and Thorne Waste in Yorkshire, are tenanted by this species ; and 

 there are similar colonies in Scotland, as well as in bogs or on islands 

 in lakes in many parts of Ireland. 



Measuring i6 inches in length, and having, like the next species, 

 a distinct summer and winter plumage, this gull may at all times 

 be distinguished by the absence of white tips to the primaries, and 

 the presence of white streaks on the inner webs of these feathers, 

 which are for the most part black. A sooty brown head, and a 

 crescentic line of white over the eye form the distinctive marks of 

 the summer-dress ; the back and wing-coverts being French grey, and 

 the rest of the plumage white, tinged on the breast with rose-pink. 

 In winter the sooty colour of the head disappears, but a dusky patch 

 remains before and behind the eye. The beak and legs are lake-red, 

 and the eye is hazel. Young birds are brown above, generally with 

 some of the grey feathers of the adult intermixed, and have a black 

 bar across the end of the tail, retained till after the rest of the adult 

 dress is assumed, while the under surface of the wing is greyish white, 

 instead of mottled with brown as in the common gull, the beak dull 

 yellow, and the legs reddish yellow. The full adult dress is assumed 

 at the end of the second year. 



The enormous numbers in which these gulls congregate in their 

 inland breeding-places may be inferred from the fact that less than 

 half a century ago as many as 16,000 eggs have been collected in a 

 single season at the Scoulton gullery ; in those days they were sold to 

 be eaten in the same manner as plovers' eggs, or for culinary purposes, 

 and this practice may be continued still, although a somewhat strong 

 flavour diminishes their value as articles of diet. The sight of the 

 gulls rising in their thousands from their breeding-haunts is stated to 

 be exceedingly beautiful, and the noise of their wings coupled with the 

 discordant cries of the birds, almost deafening. And the gulls are 

 thorough masters of the situation, driving away any poaching heron, 

 or even the lordly swan himself, from the vicinity of their nurseries. 

 At Scoulton the birds begin to assemble in the latter half of February, 

 and early in March are nearly all present ; the middle of April, if the 

 season be mild, sees the beginning of the laying, but as often as not 

 this does not take place till !^Iay. Although when on the coast in 

 winter these birds probably subsist on the usual gull-diet, when on their 

 breeding-grounds they feed largely on worms and snails, and are thus 

 of use to the agriculturist, but they will apparently also eat grain. 

 Here it may be noticed that on Beginish Island, in the Blasquet group, 

 a few black-headed gulls have forsaken their usual habit, and taken to 



