HERRING GULL. 339 



cult, perhaps impossible, to distinguisli between the 

 young of this and the next species when on the wing* ; 

 my observation must therefore, be taken to apply to the 

 united forces of the two species. Which predominates it 

 is difficult to say, bat, judging from the frequency of the 

 adults, Larus argentatus should be the more numerous. 



LARUS ARGENTATUS, Gmelin. 

 HERRING GULL. 



Much that I have said with regard to the preceding 

 species will apply equally to this ; adult birds are de- 

 cidedly scarce at all seasons, but both old and young, 

 I believe, are more frequently met with than is the case 

 with the lesser black-backed gull. 



Mr. Stevenson has the following notes on the regular 

 passing and re-passing of this and other species of gull 

 as observed at Cromer. " Frequent visits to Cromer 

 during the summer months have enabled me to watch 

 the habits of gulls at such times during many successive 

 years, and I have always found a certain number of 

 these birds, both of the larger and smaller species (adults 

 of the smaller gulls always predominating), passing and 

 re-passing that line of coast throughout the breeding 

 season. In the early morning, or even later in the day, 

 their course lies invariably towards the eastward. They 

 fly low over the waves, in small detached parties, rarely 

 stopping to feed, but hurry onward as though bound for 

 some distant point. Before the sun sets they are as 

 surely seen returning in larger companies, all of them 

 taking the same course, which is now reversed, being 

 directly westward or north-westward. The marked 

 regularity of their habits in this respect (observable as 

 well during autumn and winter) has often led me to en- 

 quire. Whence do they come and whither do they go ? 

 The larger species being represented for the most part 

 by young birds of the previous year, I believe they have 

 not yet sought the more northern or southern breeding 

 stations of their respective kinds, but continue their 

 2 u 2 



