85 
COMMON GULL. 
SEA MEW. 
Larus canusy LlNNJEUS. 
Larus —A ravenous sea-bird. Canus —Hoary. 
This Gull is not so common, as compared with other British 
species, as its name imports. 
In Europe, it is plentiful on the shores of Lapland, Norway, 
the Ferroe Islands, Holland, France, Italy, and Spain. In 
Asia, in Persia and about the Caspian Sea; and in America, 
in the northern regions. 
These birds breed in great numbers in Yorkshire, about 
Flamborough Head; individuals are shot almost every year 
in the neighbourhood of Leeds, in the Wes£-Riding, and a 
few have occurred at Barnsley, Hebden Bridge, York, and 
Sheffield; on the coast they are numerous. In Cornwall, they 
are common at Penryn River and other parts of the shore; 
so also in Kent and Essex, by the sides of the Thames. In 
Norfolk, about Yarmouth and along the sea-board, commonly; 
thus too in Lincolnshire, Sussex, Dorsetshire, and in fact all 
round the island. Some are seen in Northamptonshire nearly 
every winter; the same remark applies to Oxfordshire, as 
also to Cambridgeshire. In Derbyshire, they occur occasionally 
along the Trent side. In Surrey near Gcidalming, and one 
at Fair Mile Common, near Cobham, December 26th., 1836; 
one also on the River Mole, near Hampton Court. 
In Scotland, about St. Abb’s Head, in the county of 
Berwick, in vast quantities; so too in Sutherlandshire Mr. 
Selby mentions several breeding stations, namely, on Loch 
Shin, Loch Laigal, and various smaller lochs. It is common 
in Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides. So likewise in 
Ireland, and also in Wales. 
They frequent the sea-coast, especially near the mouths of 
