THE COMMON GULL 283 
. Before winter the distinctive character afforded by the brown 
plumage of the head and neck has entirely disappeared. These parts 
are now of a pure white, and thered legs afford the best distinguish- 
ing feature. Persons residing on the coast, who are familiarly 
acquainted with the habits of the bird, but are unaware of the peri- 
odical change in its colour, consider the two forms of the bird as 
distinct species. Thus I have received from a marsh on the coast of 
Norfolk the eggs of the ‘Black-Headed Gull’, and have had the 
same bird pointed out to me in winter as the ‘ Red-Legged Pigeon- 
Mow’ (Mew).. One flock of about thirty thus pointed out to me 
presented a very pretty sight. They had detected either a shoal 
of small fishes, or a collection of dead animal matter floating among 
the breakers, and were feeding with singular activity. 
THE COMMON GULL 
LARUS CANUS 
In spring the head and neck of this species are white and the mantle is a pale 
grey, a little darker in summer, the head, tail and under parts white ; 
primaries comparatively long, and the three outer pairs dull black on 
the lower portions, with large white ‘mirrors’ near the tips in mature 
birds—in the rest the predominant tone is a pale grey, the black only 
forming a bar, and all but the first primary broadly tipped with white ; 
bill a rich yellow towards the point; legs and feet greenish yellow in 
summery, darker in winter. In winter the head and neck are streaked 
and spotted with ash-brown. Length eighteen inches. 
THIS is a species resident in Great Britain, but it is not known 
to breed south of the Solway. It nests, however, in the west of 
Ireland ; grassy sides and islands of lochs or slopes that face the 
sea, not far often above high-water, are its favourite resorts, where 
it breeds in colonies, the nest of seaweeds, heather and dry grass 
being fairly large. In it will be, as a rule, three eggs, an olive-brown, 
spotted and streaked with a blackish tone; but pale blue, light 
green and straw-coloured varieties are found often. This Gull is 
the first to seek the shore on the approach of ‘coarse’ weather ; 
and it may often be studied in the fields as it picks up grubs among 
the furrows in the company of Rooks, or by the town-tied Cockney, 
from his own standpoint of Westminster Bridge. 
The ‘Blue Maa’, as this species is called in the north, breeds in 
abundance on the Scottish coasts as well as the moorsof the fresh- 
water lochs, including the Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetlands. 
The Black-Headed Gull is generally the Common Gullof the peasantry 
in Ireland, but the underside of the wing in the young of the Com- 
