534 Laridce. 



the ploughshare, frequenting the interior of the country the 

 greater part of the year in search of worms. The Rev. A. P. 

 Morres says it is very frequently seen flying up and down the 

 river near him, and picking up any refuse matter it can find on 

 the banks. The late Rev. G. Marsh used to say that in South 

 Wilts it obtained the sobriquet of ' Barley Sower.' The Rev. 

 W. C. Lukis kept one alive for some time that was captured at 

 Great Bedwyn in 1854, and was present when another was 

 secured in the parish of Burbage, in March, 1857, during a snow- 

 storm, by which, and the furious gusts of wind which prevailed 

 on that day, it seemed quite overcome and exhausted. Perhaps, 

 too, the same violent gales had driven it from the coast, and it 

 may have been faint from hunger. It is called canus, ' hoary,' 

 from its light-coloured plumage of pure white and pearl gray, 

 than which no Quaker's dress could be more subdued in colour, 

 or more pure and spotless. In France it is Mouttte d pieds 

 bleus; in Italy, Gabbiano mezza mosca, 'Half-gray Gull.' In 

 Sweden it is the Fisk Mdse, or ' Fishing Gull ' ; and in Germany 

 the Sturm Meve, or ' Storm Gull/ though why such a title should 

 be applied to a species which is the first to seek shelter from the 

 coming tempest I know not ; for this species only comes to land at 

 the approach of rough weather at sea, hence the popular rhyme : 

 ' Sea-gull, Sea-gull, sit on the sand, 

 Tis never good weather when you're on the land.' 



Throughout Norway and up to the North Cape, in the interioi 

 as well as on the sea coast, it is found in immense numbei 

 Whatever it may be in Great Britain, it is certainly th< 

 ' Common ' Gull of Northern Europe. 



227. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (Larus fuscus). 

 Though common enough on the coast and within a few mile 

 of the sea, this species is generally supposed not to venture ven 

 far from salt water, but yet it certainly does come boldly inlan< 

 both for the food it finds on meadows and pasture lands, and 

 also for breeding purposes; in proof of which I have several 

 instances of its appearance in various parts of our county. The 



