GULLS AND TERNS. 19 



especially during the breeding season, are by no 

 means exclusively marine ones. Almost every kind 

 of coast is frequented by these birds rocky head- 

 lands, precipitous downs, sandy dunes, mud-flats or 

 slob -lands, and marshes ; whilst every harbour 

 round the shore of our islands is periodically visited. 

 Gulls are not very pronounced migrants. They 

 wander about a good deal during the non-breeding 

 season, and many Arctic species draw southwards 

 during winter, but all the indigenous British forms 

 are residents on and off the coasts throughout the 

 year. With these few words of introduction we 

 will now proceed to give a more detailed account of 

 the strictly British species. 



GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



This, the largest of the Gulls, and scientifically 

 known as Lams marinus, is one of the least 

 common British species, most locally distributed 

 during the breeding season. It is not known to 

 breed anywhere on the east coast of England, and 

 but very locally on the south coast, in Dorset. It 

 becomes more numerous in the wilder districts, in 

 Cornwall, the Scilly Islands, and Lundy, and thence 

 locally along the Welsh coast and in the Solway 

 district. In Scotland it becomes more common, 

 especially among the islands of the west coast, 

 including St. Kilda, and on the north coast to the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands. It is also widely dis- 

 tributed in Ireland, but there, as everywhere else, 



