304 HERRING GULL. 



Shetland. On the lakes of the Continent it appears 

 to be equally distributed as in Britain, extending 

 northward to Norway and south-eastward to Italy. 

 Mr. Yarrell also gives to it Barbary, Syria, Egypt, 

 the Red Sea, and Trebisond, and Mr. Temminck says 

 it has been received from the Cape of Good Hope. 

 We possess a gull from Southern Africa very similar, 

 but which we have hitherto considered distinct. 



This bird in the breeding season has the neck, , 

 lower back, tail, and under parts, white ; the mantle 

 and wings deep blackish grey ; the quills black, the 

 first having the tip and a broad bar white, the others 

 with triangular white tips; the bill and legs are 

 yellow, the angle of the mandible orange, a ring of 

 vermilion-red surrounds the eyelids; the length is 

 about twenty-three inches or two feet. In winter 

 the head and nape are streaked with paie greyisk 

 brown. The young resembles much that of the 

 last, but is always much less. 



The next three large species have the mantle 

 of a pale shade, but are distinguished from each 

 other by a different distribution of the markings, 

 &e. The most common is 



THE HERRING GULL, LARUS ARGENTATUS. Goe- 

 land a manteau Uue, 'T*mm. Herring Gull of 

 British authors. The Herring Gull is generally 

 spread around Great Britain and Ireland, and is ex- 

 tended northward to Shetland , it is, however, per- 



