COMMON GULL. 309 



A description of the last might serve for this 

 bird, adding, that the length is only twenty-two 

 inches (that of the other being from thirty to thirty- 

 three), the wings exceeding the tail in length ; in 

 winter the head is streaked with greyish brown. 

 The young specimen in our possession appears of a 

 dull brownish white, from the clouding of that co- 

 lour on the plumage ; on the head the brown as- 

 sumes the form of streaks, and on the tail and 

 wings of indistinct broken markings. 



THE COMMON GULL, LARUS CAN us. -Mouette a 

 pied Hue, Temm. Common Gull of British authors 

 ( Winter Gull, the young}. This bird, though smaller 

 than any of the preceding species, is perfectly typi- 

 cal in form, and to a person resident at a distance 

 from the coast, will perhaps be that with which 

 he is best acquainted ; for in autumn, winter, and 

 spring, it roams far inland, feeding on the fallows 

 and pastures, and after- floods on the inundated lands; 

 always, however, retiring to the coast at night. Its 

 breeding stations are frequently on precipitous rocks 

 by the sea, where we have seen it generally away 

 from the other gulls. It also resorts to the shore 

 of fresh-water lakes, and to their islands, breeding 

 there on the ground, though in one instance we 

 found it using the walls of a ruin, on which several 

 nests were placed. The Common Gull is very gene- 

 rally distributed over our islands, reaching Orkney 

 and Shetland. On the European shores it is also 



