I.ARID/F.. 



^57 





THE HERRING-GULL. 



Larus argentatus, J. F. Gmelin. 



The Herring-Gull is the most widely distributed member of the 

 family on the coasts of the British Islands ; breeding wherever pre- 

 cipitous cliffs or isolated ' stacks ' afford a suitable refuge. Occa- 

 sionally, as on Foulshaw Moss in Westmoreland, it resorts to low 

 marshy ground, and colonies may also be found on islets in lochs 

 in some parts of Scotland, though such situations are usually left 

 to the Black-backed and Common Gulls. 



This species is abundant on the coasts of Scandinavia and the 

 Baltic, while immense numbers nest on some of the low Frisian 

 Islands — especially on Sylt, where from 40,000-50,000 eggs are 

 taken for eating in a season ; and southward it ranges down the 

 western sea-board of Europe, stretching out to the Azores. Turn- 

 ing from the foggy North Atlantic to the more sunny shores of 

 the Spanish Peninsula and the Mediterranean, we find a resident 

 sub-species, Z. cachinnans of Pallas, characterized by a darker 

 mantle, lemon-yellow legs and feet, and an orbital-ring of a deep 

 orange-red ; this form extends from the Black Sea and the Caspian 

 northward to Archangel, and eastward to the Pacific, visiting the 



