326 . BRITISH BIRDS. 



LARUS ARGENTATUS. 



HERRING-GULL. 



(Plate 51.) 



Larus cinereus, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 100 (17G0) ; Leach, Si/st. Cat. Mamm. ^-c. Brit. 



Mus. p. 40 (181(5). 

 Larus argentatus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. GOO (1788) ; et auctorum plurimorum — 



Temmmvk Naiimann, Baird, Brewer 4" Bidgivay, Dresser, ti'aiinders, &c. 

 Larus argenteus, Macyill. ]\Je77i. Wern. Soc. v. p. 2G4 (1824). 

 Glaucus argi-ntatus (Gmel), Brtich, Journ. Orn. 185.3. p. 101. 

 Laroides argentatus {Gmel.), Bonap. Naiananma, 1854, p. 212. 

 Larus smitbsonianus, Cones, Proc. Ac. PJiilad. 18G2, p. 296, 

 Larus fuscus, Linn, apiid Pennai^t, Montayu, Forster, Sec. 



The Herring-Gull is commonly distributed round the British coasts, 

 and breeds in more or less abundance in most suitable localities. It nests 

 on many of the cliffs on the south and west coasts of England, including 

 the Channel Islands, as well as on the rocky shores of Wales. On the 

 east coast it breeds sparingly on the Flamborough cliffs and the Fame 

 Islands, and thence it has many colonies on the mainland and adjoining 

 islands round the Scotch coast, including the Orkneys and Shetlands, the 

 Outer Hebrides and St. Kilda. It breeds in many suitable localities round 

 the coasts of Ireland. 



The Herring-Gull is an Atlantic species, in the New World breeding 

 in British North America as far north as the Arctic circle, and as far 

 ■west as the Great Slave Lake. It winters in the United States east of 

 the Rocky Mountains, and in Mexico, the Bermudas, West Indies, and 

 Central America, apparently (like the Arctic and Gull-billed Terns) only 

 crossing to the Pacific coast in Central America. To Greenland it is a 

 somewhat rare visitor, but it breeds on the Faroes, Azores, Madeira, and 

 Canary Islands. In the Old World its range is comparatively restricted, 

 being confined to North-west Europe. It breeds on both coasts of Scan- 

 dinavia as far east as the Varanger Fjord, and in many places on the 

 shores of the North Sea and the English Channel. In all these localities 

 it is more or less a resident ; but it is said that many birds, mostly imma- 

 ture, migrate in winter to the west coasts of France and Spain, and pass 

 along the north-west coast of Africa as far south as the Canaries. 



The Herring-Gull has two very close allies, which appear to be con- 

 specilic with it. The most distinct of these, Larus argentatus affinis, 

 breeds in the Arctic regions of Siberia, from the White Sea to Behring^s 



