56 BRITISH BIRDS 



more or less white tips, the three outermost quills being 

 all white except for the black ends. Best of plumage white. 

 Immature birds up to their second summer or later may be 

 distinguished by the black terminal 

 band of the tail, and the fledglings 

 by the buff and brown margins to 

 the feathers. 



Nest. In colonies. Place : two 

 types (1) on the ground, on tussocks, 

 or among water-plants in marsh- 

 land, or on the edge of lakes inland 

 or by the sea ; (2) less often among 

 marram grass on sandhills near the 

 sea, as at Ravenglass and Walney. 

 Material : varies according to the locality ; marram grass, 

 reeds, &c. 



Eggs. Usually 3. Shades of buff, brown, and olive-green, 

 spotted andblotched with blackish-brown and under lying purple- 

 grey. Sometimes bluish and reddish types are found. Av. 

 size, 2*2 x 1*46 in. Laying begins in April. One brood usual. 



110. Common-gull [Larus canus canus Linnseus]. Resident 

 in Scotland and Ireland. A winter visitor to England and 

 Wales, except for immature birds, which may be seen in 

 summer. Has nested on the Fames (1910). Bird of passage. 



Bird. Distinguished from the herring-gull by its distinctly 

 smaller size 18 in. to the herring-gull's 24 and from both 

 this species and the smaller blackheaded-gull (16 in.) by its 

 yellowish-green beak and legs. Sexes alike or nearly so. 

 Back and wings pearl-grey, except the primaries, which are 

 black or grey tipped white, except the outermost, which is 

 tipped black. Rest of plumage white, but after the autumn 

 moult the head and neck are streaked with ash-brown. 

 Immature birds may always be distinguished by the black 

 terminal rim of the tail, and by the dominant ash-brown of 

 the plumage, in which it differs from the immature blackhead. 



Nest. On the vegetation-covered tops of low-lying islands and 

 cliffs, on shores of lochs, and on hillsides. Material : grasses, 

 heather, sea-weed, &c. Species nests usually in colonies. 



Eggs. Usually 3. Clay or stone yellow to shades of brown. 

 Spotted, blotched and streaked with blackish-brown and 

 underlying ash-grey. Greenish and blue varieties. Av. size, 

 2 -3 x 1*6 in. Laying begins in May. 



111. Herring-gull [Larus argentatus argentatus Pontop- 

 pidan]. The most widely distributed of our breeding gulls. 



Bird. Av. size, 24 in. Distinguished from the preceding 

 species by its larger size and dull pinkish or flesh-coloured 



