GULLS AND TERNS. 31 



most locally distributed of the British species. The 

 Common Gull formerly bred in Lancashire, but at 

 the present time is not known to do so anywhere in 

 England. From the Sol way northwards, it becomes 

 tolerably common as a breeding species, right up to 

 the Shetlands, in many inland localities, as well as 

 on the coast. It is also a somewhat local bird in 

 Ireland. The Common Gull, or " Blue Maa," as it 

 is locally known, is about half the size of the 

 Herring Gull, with a mantle, in the adult, almost 

 as dark as that of the Lesser Black-backed Gull. 

 During the non-breeding season this Gull is fairly 

 well distributed along the coast, and then visits 

 localities where it is never seen in summer. It is a 

 decided shore species, rarely wandering far out to 

 sea, and is one of the first Gulls driven inland by 

 stormy weather. Although popularly believed to 

 be so inseparably associated with the sea, the Gulls, 

 and especially the smaller kinds such as the one 

 now under notice, often resort to fields even at 

 some distance from the water. The Common Gull 

 seems as much at home inland as on the shore. I 

 have seen it on the high moorlands, and in Scotland 

 flying about many a loch pool, or land-locked sea 

 arm ; it is equally at home on the ploughed lands 

 and the pastures, yet its plumage seems strangely 

 out of place in such localities, and the incongruity 

 is further intensified should the startled birds take 

 refuge in a neighbouring tree, as they sometimes do. 

 There is nothing specially remarkable about the 



