238 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



certainly the most common of the Gull family during 

 the breeding-season on the south coast of England, 

 and is to be found nesting in suitable localities from 

 the South Foreland to the Land's End ; the nests are 

 generally composed of coarse grass, and placed upon 

 the ledges of cliffs. The young birds leave the nest, 

 as a rule, early in July, very often before they are 

 able to fly up again from the water to the nesting- 

 ledges. We used often to catch as many as w^e 

 cared about by tiring them down in a rowing boat on 

 the south coast of Devon in the latter half of July or 

 early part of August ; these youngsters soon become 

 perfectly tame, and thrive for years in captivity if 

 allowed a good range. At Lilford a male of this 

 species paired with a female of a dark-mantled 

 species from the South seas, which, for want of a 

 better English name, I must call the Dominican 

 Gull, Larus dominicanus ; for several years these 

 birds annually reared one or two, and sometimes 

 three young birds, which in their adult dress resemble 

 their male parent very closely, though their mantles 

 are somewhat darker, and their beaks of a rather 

 less brilliant yellow than those of the average adult 

 Herring-Gull. In the Mediterranean the Herring- 

 Gull is represented by a race that only differs from 

 our British bird by being possessed of yellow legs 

 and feet and an orange-red ring round the outside of 

 the eye. The cry of our bird is a very harsh mono- 

 syllabic scream, so rapidly repeated when the bird is 

 excited as to amount to a menacing chatter. In the 

 Highlands of Scotland gamekeepers hold this species 

 in detestation as a determined and audacious egg- 

 steal er ; in fact, I know that some of these guardians 

 of Grouse-moors consider the larger Gulls as worse 



