120 THE GULLS 



shire coast in the winters of 1866 and 1868, and the whole east of England in 1869, 

 and again, after heavy easterly gales, in February 1870. On the last occasion, an 

 unusually large proportion of adults was recorded. In British waters the little- 

 gull is occasionally seen in small parties, and is sometimes noticed associating 

 with Arctic-terns (cf. Nelson, B. of Yorks., 1907, p. 668). [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Does not nest in the British Isles. [F. c. B. J.] 



5. Food. Chiefly aquatic and other insects and molluscs; also small 

 fish (Naumann, H. Just, Koenig, Sandman). The stomachs of birds examined by 

 W. Meves contained chiefly small fish, insects being found only in a few (Dresser 

 and Sharpe, Birds of Europe.) [F. B. K.] 



COMMON-GULL [Larus canus Linnaeus. Sea or winter-mew, kitty, 

 cob ; white-maa (Orkneys), small or blue-maa (Shetlands). French, goeland 

 cendre ; German, Sturm-Move ; Italian, gavina]. 



1. Description. The pearl-grey of the back, and the yellowish green of the 

 beak and legs, at once distinguish the common-gull from its congeners. The sexes 

 are alike, and there is a barely perceptible seasonal change of coloration. (PI. 104.) 

 Length 18 in. [457 '20 mm.]. In summer dress the head, neck, tail, and under parts 

 pure white, the back and wings pearl-grey save the primaries, which are black tipped 

 with white save the two outermost feathers, which have a subterminal white spot. 

 After the autumn moult the head and neck are more or less conspicuously streaked 

 with ash-brown. In the juvenile plumage the feathers of the upper parts are of an 

 ash-brown fringed with dull white, but the upper tail-coverts are white with ash- 

 brown spots : the tail is white with a broad band of black across the terminal half, 

 as in the young blackheaded-gull, from which, however, it may at all times be 

 distinguished by its larger size and the totally different coloration of the rest of 

 the plumage. The crown and under parts are mottled, and the flanks are heavily 

 spotted with ash-brown. The young in down are variable in coloration, but have 

 the head more or less conspicuously spotted and striped with dull black, and the 

 back obscurely striped. Under parts white, [w. p. p.] 



2. Distribution. As a breeding species the common-gull is unknown in 

 England and Wales, but nests commonly on inland lochs up to nearly 3000 feet on 

 the mainland of Scotland, and also on many parts of the coast, but not in the north- 

 east. On the west side its limits extend south to the Solway Firth, and it breeds 

 commonly on the Inner and Outer Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetlands. In Ireland 



