WHITE SEA-BIRDS. 275 



weary child, modulated with mournful prolongation 

 of the final syllable. 



COMMON GULL— 18 inches ; also gray in the upper and 

 white in the remaining parts ; Init, though the bill is 

 similarly yellow, the feet also are yellow, nob black as 

 in the Kittiwake. 



HERRING GULL — 23 inches ; also gray in the upper and 

 white in the remaining parts ; but, though the bill is 

 similarly yellow, the feet are ilesh-colour. 



BLACK-HEADED GULL— 16 inches. In winter, when the 

 head is white, with a dusky patch on the hind-crown, a 

 dusky spot before the eye, and another and larger one 

 behind the ear, the entire head and the neck of the 

 Kittiwake are slate-gray. In summer, when the entire 

 head of the Black-Headed Gull is black, the head of the 

 Kittiwake is wholly white. 



HERRING GULL.— Plate 115. 23 inches. Back 

 and wings pearl-gray, but the longest flight-feathers 

 blackish, tipped with black and white ; head, neck, 

 under parts, and tail white ; bill yellow ; legs and feet 

 flesh-colour. Young : mottled and streaked all over 

 with brown ; tail barred with brown. Resident. 



Eggs. — 3, usually olive-brown, but at times green 

 or buff, spotted and blotched with dark brown ; 

 2-9 X 1-95 inches (plate 134). 



Nest. — Of dead grass, fern-stalks, and the like, 

 placed on the ground. 



The Herring Gull breeds in colonies, often in com- 

 pany Avith Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, all round the 

 coasts of the British Islands, placing its nest usually 

 on rocky ledges at the clifF-head. When the nesting- 

 site is invaded, the high-pitched, far-i*eaching ' He-oh ! ' 

 of the unmolested bird gives place to the deep-toned, 



2J 



