614 LARID.E. 



twenty years in which his attention has been given to the 

 question, he has failed to obtain any proof whatever of the 

 nesting of Larus canus on any part of the English coast. 

 Nor is the evidence satisfactory as to the asserted nesting of 

 this species in the cliffs of St. Abb's Head, or indeed in any 

 precipitous cliffs whatever, in the ordinary acceptation of the 

 words. The Common Gull selects, as a rule, the compara- 

 tively low shores of small islands, either on the sea-coast, or 

 up the arms of the sea ; and it is also partial to grassy 

 islands in lochs ; but although its nests may be found on 

 broken ground or even on small crags, yet flat surfaces are 

 far more to its taste. It will even resort to low trees and 

 bushes, and is very different in its habits from the pre- 

 cipice-loving Kittiwake with which it has frequently been 

 confounded. Nowhere in the British Islands is it so abun- 

 dant as on the coasts, islands, and both salt and fresh-water 

 lochs of Scotland, where it is known as the ' Blue Maa ' ; and 

 tarns in the most desolate moors, often at considerable 

 elevations, are frequently enlivened by its colonies. It is in 

 Scotland alone that, throughout the year, it merits its appel- 

 lation. In Ireland its authenticated breeding-places are far 

 less numerous than might be expected, and the ' common ' 

 Gull of the peasantry generally proves to be the Black-headed 

 species ; but there is fair evidence that L. canus breeds, or 

 used to breed, on some of the inland lakes in Donegal. 

 Mr. E. Warren found a small colony on Lough Talt in the 

 Ox Mountains, co. Sligo, in the summer of 1855 ; and he 

 has recently discovered another breeding-haunt in a small 

 lough in co. Mayo (Zool. 1882, p. 241). It seems probable 

 that this species breeds on some low islands in Tralee Bay ; 

 and Mr. Ussher believes that it nests on the Saltees, off 

 co. Wexford. When the sister-island is thoroughly explored 

 by competent naturalists, more breeding-places of the Com- 

 mon Gull will probably be discovered. 



During the greater part of the year this species is abun- 

 dant on the coasts and estuaries, and owing to its being one 

 of the first to seek the shore on the approach of heavy 

 weather at sea, it has been made the subject of various 



