56 BRITISH BIRDS 
more or less white tips, the three outermost quills being 
alk white except for the black ends. Rest 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 Jakes 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 and blotched with blackish-brownand underlying purple- 
grey. Sometimes bluish and reddish types are found. Avy. 
size, 2°2x1'46 in. Laying begins in April. One brood usual. 
110. Common-gull [Larus canus canus Linneus]. 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 Farnes (1910). Bird of passage. 
Bird. Distinguished from the herring-gull by its distinct] 
smaller size—l8 in. to the herring-gull’s 24—and from bot 
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, 
23x16in. 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 
