356 LARIDiE. 



works any indication of a gull differing^ as here described, from 

 L. canus. On tlie 10th of June, at a small rocky islet with liigh 

 cliffs, to the north-east of Port Naussa, island of Paros, I re- 

 marked the same* species, and another like the L. argentatus : it 

 was just such a locality as the two kinds would select for breed- 

 ing quarters in the north of Ireland. 



The Bishop of Norwich, in his ' Pamiliar History of Birds ' 

 (vol. ii. p. 240), gives an interesting account of gulls, as observed 

 by himself at the South Stack, off Holyhead. Mr. James Wilson, 

 in his ' Yoyage round the coast of Scotland and the Isles ' (vol. i. 

 p. 336), mentions a ludicrous encounter between guUs (species 

 not mentioned) and young goats in a small island in Loch Lax- 

 ford, from wliich the goats were routed, in consequence it was 

 supposed of their encroachments on the nests of the birds. In 

 the 'Eecreations of Christopher North ^ (vol. ii. p. 181), we find 

 gulls commented on in the author^s own eloquent manner. 



THE HERRING-GULL. 



Silvery Gull. 



Lams argentatus, Brunn. 



Is common around the coast throughout the year. 



Breeding-haunts. 



Under L. canus a few observations were made respecting' the 

 frequency of the breeding-haunts of the herring-gull around our 

 coast, compared with those of the so-called common gull. Pro- 

 ceeding from BeKast Bay, northward, we have seen (June 12th, 

 1834) several hundreds of herring-gulls about tlieir nests at the 

 range of precipitous rocks just outside its entrance, called the 

 Gobbins, and all but one were in full plumage. Of late years 

 herring-gulls have bred here in great numbers; — in 1849, it was 

 estimated that at least 1,000 pair bred. In the very early spring 

 of that year, about a fourth of the number which breed here had 



