GULLS 57 



legs. Back pearl-grey, also the wings except for its white 

 tips, and the black on the primaries. Best of plumage 

 white. Bill yellow with red at the angle. After the autumn 

 moult the head and neck are streaked with ash-grey. The 

 young are mottled brown ; remain immature 4-5 years, with a 

 gradual transformation to the adult grey and white plumage. 



Nest. Place : varied, usually cliff ledges, vegetation-covered 

 tops of islands, shingle beds and moorland. Material : grass, 

 heather, and other accessible material. Species nests usually 

 in colonies. 



Eggs. Usually 2-3. Shades of buff, olive-brown, or green, 

 rarely whitish or blue, more or less spotted, blotched and 

 streaked with brown and underlying purples. Av. size, 

 2-7 x 1*9 in. Laying begins April-May. One brood normally. 



112. Lesser blackbacked-gull [Larus fuscus fuscus Linnaeus]. 

 Resident, found breeding mostly in W. England and Scotland. 



Bird. Length 22 in. At once distinguished from the 

 preceding, which it nearly equals in size, 

 by the dark slate-grey on the back and 

 wings and its yellow legs, White tips to 

 the scapulars and wing quills, with white 

 " mirrors " or terminal patches on the one 

 or two outermost primaries. Rest of the 

 plumage white, but in winter the head 

 and neck are streaked with ash-brown, 

 Beak yellow with red at the angle. The 

 young are mottled brown, but, as might 

 be expected, darker than those of the j^ 79. 



herring-gull, the back growing still darker 

 as maturity approaches in the fourth or fifth year. 



Nest. Place : usually on the vegetation-covered tops of 

 islands, on moors inland, rarely cliff ledges, in which it differs 

 from the herring-gull. Material: as herring-gull. Species 

 nests usually in colonies. 



Eggs. Usually 2-3. Like the herring-gull's, both in colora- 

 tion and size. Laying begins in May. One brood usual. 



113. Great blackbacked-gull [Larus marinus Linnaeus]. 

 Resident, breeding chiefly in Scotland and the west coast of 

 Ireland. 



Bird. Length 30 in. Resembles the preceding species in its 

 black and white plumage, but is at once distinguished from it 

 at all ages by its much larger size. It resembles the herring- 

 gull in having flesh-coloured legs. 



Nest. Usually on some small islet or top of a stack. 

 Material : as the two preceding species. Singly or small 

 colonies. 



