HEEETNG GULL — GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 171 



days after^ having- died from shot wounds, a few miles off in 

 Warwickshire, was doubtless one of the flock. I saw two 

 immature Gulls, apparently of this species, flying over 

 Bodicote in the same direction on the 7th September, 1884. 



Mr. Prior mentions a Herring Gull shot at Swerford in 1876 

 [Banhury Guardian), and. others also have been procured in the 

 north of the county. Mr. Fowler observed a Herring- Gull 

 in a flooded meadow in the Evenlode valley, at King-ham, on 

 the 1 9th and 2otli March, i i 



THE LESSEE BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



Larus fuscus. 

 The Lesser Black-backed Gull is an occasional visitor, 

 perhaps rather less common than the preceding species; in 

 immature dress, however, they are very similar in appearance, 

 and it is impossible to say to which species the flocks of this 

 sized Gull (which are generally composed of individuals in this 

 plumage), seen flying over, really belong. In stormy weather 

 (wind north-east, backing to north-west) on the 12th May, 

 1886, a flock of Gulls passed over Oxford, progressing in a 

 northerly direction — an instance of the return journey over the 

 usual route, but a little to the south of the direct line. These 

 were probably Lesser Black-backed Gulls, as an example 

 of this species was shot the same day on Port Meadow. In 

 the same year two immature Gulls, of this size, were seen over 

 the Isis at Sandford on the 19th June (A. H. Macpherson 

 in lit.), a rather unusual time of the year for them to visit us. 

 Other specimens have been procured in the Cherwell valley, 

 near Banbury, and in the neighbourhood of Oxford. 



THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. \ J 6 



Larus marhius. 

 The Great Black-backed Gull is an occasional visitor. The 

 Messrs. Matthews wrote of it as often passing over Weston- 

 ou-the-Green in small flocks of four or five {Zoologist, -p. 2625), 



