HERRING-GULL. 329 



that the birds had adopted this singular mode of nesting within the memory 

 of his informant, and that many years previously they built on the ground. 

 Nests found by Kennicott, on the southern shores of the Great Slave Lake, 

 were deep and large and made of sticks, leaves, and feathers, and generally 

 hidden amongst low bushes, or near drift-wood and under willows. 



The eggs of the Herring-Gull are usually three in number, but some- 

 times only two. The typical eggs of this Gull are indistinguishable in 

 colour from eggs of the Common and Great Black-backed Gulls, but many 

 other varieties are found which do not occur in either of those species. 

 Some eggs are pale bluish green with only a few small brown specks upon 

 them, whilst others, in which the ground-colour is dark buffish brown, 

 are not very uncommon. Occasionally the surface-spots are as large as a 

 sixpence. The eggs vary in length from 3'0 to 2'7 inch, and in breadth 

 from 2'1 to 1'9 inch. Eggs of this Gull should be very carefully identified, 

 otherwise they are of little or no value. 



When the colony is invaded the sitting Gulls quit their nests at the first 

 alarm, long before the intruder has approached, and with angry cries of 

 remonstrance circle in the air above his head, or alight on the neighbouring 

 rocks to watch his movements. Should the young be hatched the anxiety 

 of the old birds is increased, and the downy chicks run and hide themselves 

 amongst the grass or in the crevices of the rocks. The young that are 

 hatched in trees are said not to leave the nests until they can fly, but 

 those bred in nests on the ground soon take to the water. It is not known 

 that the Herring-Gull rears more than one brood in the year ; but its first 

 clutch of eggs (even the second and third) is very often taken, when others 

 are laid. As soon as the young are able to fly the breeding-place is 

 deserted, and old and young disperse round the coasts for the winter, the 

 latter generally keeping much to themselves. 



The Herring-Gull is on an average a slightly larger bird than the Lesser 

 Black-backed Gull. The colour of the mantle, scapulars, and wing-coverts 

 is much paler than in that bird, being light French grey ; and the grey 

 wedge-shaped pattern on the inner web of the primaries is much more 

 developed, being quite distinct on the first primary. The colour of the bill 

 does not differ ; but the legs and feet are flesh-colour instead of yellow, and 

 the orbits are yellow instead of vermilion; the irides are the same in 

 colour. The Herring-Gull is believed to carry its immature mottled 

 plumage a year longer than the Lesser Black-backed Gull, and in all the 

 stages of immature plumage its colours are much paler than in that 

 species. Young in down are indistinguishable from those of the Lesser 

 Black-backed Gull. 



