632 LARIDyE. 



bird remains all the year. From the Author's statement in 

 former Editions, it would appear that in the early part of 

 the present century this species used to nest in the marshes 

 ahout the estuary of that river; but it has long ceased to 

 do so. At the present day a few scattered pairs breed on 

 the cliffs of Dorsetshire ; and, in decreasing numbers, on 

 Lundy Island, but the Steep Holmes, higher up in the 

 Bristol Channel, mentioned in former Editions, have cer- 

 tainly been abandoned for at least forty years. Some nest 

 on the coast of Cornwall, and in Scilly; and on the rocky 

 coast of Wales there are several breeding-places ; a colony 

 also inhabits an islet in a small elevated llyn in the 

 Snowdou district. On the east coast of England no breed- 

 ing-place is known to exist ; but the old birds, generally in 

 pairs, and the young, are found in considerable numbers 

 from July to the following spring, when the former retire 

 northwards to breed. 



In Scotland the Great Black-backed Gull is far more 

 abundant, especially in summer, on the deeply indented 

 coasts and islands of the north and west. A few are said 

 to breed on Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde ; and Mr. R. 

 Gray says that iwelve or fourteen pairs annually take up 

 their quarters on the island of Inchnioin in Loch Lomond. 

 Other breeding-places are scattered along the coast of the 

 mainland and on the inland lochs up to Sutherlandshire, 

 where, however, the species is not very common ; but in the 

 Hebrides there are many, both on the isolated ' stacks 'and 

 on the small grass-covered islets of the fresh- and salt- 

 water lochs. In the Orkneys its nesting-haunts are com- 

 paratively few ; but there are a considerable number in the 

 Shetlands, one of the most interesting being on the flat 

 top of the * stack ' known as the Holm of Noss, to which 

 access was formerly obtained by means of a cradle slung on 

 two parallel ropes. 



In Ireland this species is found upon the coast throughout 

 the year, and, according to Thompson, it is much more 

 abundant in Belfast Lough than the Lesser Black-backed 

 Gull. Its breeding- places are scattered along the rocky 



