260 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



hind toe, which peculiarity has obtained for it the 

 specific name of tridactylus. 



Common Gull, Larus canus. This bird, although 

 called the " Common" Gull, is by no means so in 

 Middlesex, and indeed, so far as I have been able 

 to observe, it is nowhere so numerous in the South 

 of England as its congener the Kittiwake. The few 

 examples which have been met with in this county 

 must be considered as accidental visitants. Mr. 

 Jesse notices one that was killed in winter at 

 Hampton Court, and I have seen some half-dozen 

 examples in different stages of plumage which were 

 shot lower down on the Thames, b}^ Blackwall, in 

 September. Three specimens of this Gull have 

 come under my notice at Kingsbuiy ; the last, on 

 the 5th January, 1864, was an adult bird in winter 

 plumage. Dr. Giinther informed me that towards 

 the end of October, 1865, he observed a flock of 

 these Gulls in Bushy Park. They numbered about 

 twenty, and were so busilj^ engaged in fishing at one 

 of the ponds that he was enabled to approach within 

 a very short distance, and thus identified the species. 

 A larger, brown Gull, believed to have been a Skua, 

 accompanied them, and remained in the neighbour- 

 hood for several days. 



The variation of colour in the legs and toes of 

 different individuals of Larus canus is ver}^ remark- 

 able. Not only do the old birds differ in this respect 

 from the young, which is the case with many birds, 



