PLATE I 

 HERRING GULL. Larus argentatus 



June io///, 1893. This photograph was taken from a nest on Staple Island 

 at the Fames. We saw five or six pairs of Herring Gulls on a rocky part 

 of the island, a little apart from the general colony of Lesser Black-backed 

 Gulls, and had no difficulty in identifying their nests. The birds were very 

 tame, and did not seem to mind our presence in the least, flying about quite 

 close and screaming at us. They were quite as determined robbers as the 

 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and we saw one sitting on a rock and tearing a 

 young tern to pieces, much after the manner of an eagle, standing on its prey 

 with its feet and tearing pieces off it. 



The nests of the Herring Gulls were large flat structures of seaweed, 

 grass, sea-pink, bits of turf and sea-campion, lined with fine grass and bits of 

 sea-campion ; they were absolutely indistinguishable from the nests of the 

 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, as also were the eggs, and it was only by watching 

 the birds go on to the nests with my glasses that I was able to tell which nest 

 belonged to the former species and which to the latter. Although the date is 

 rather a late one for fresh eggs of the Herring Gull, we succeeded in getting 

 two full clutches quite fresh ; we also saw two or three newly hatched nests 

 of young birds, the old birds feeding them with half-digested food, which the 

 young bird was allowed to pick from its parent's bill. 



The Herring Gull seems to be a much stronger bird than the Lesser 

 Black-backed Gull, as we repeatedly saw them rob the Black-backs of choice 

 morsels of fish, and we saw a Herring Gull deliberately carry off an egg from 

 a Black-back's nest, in spite of the protestations of the owners. 



2G 



