LARID&. 67 
THE COMMON GULL. 
Larus cANus, Linnzus. 
The trivial name of this species has led to many errors as regards 
England and Wales, though the bird is certainly “common” on the 
coasts from autumn to spring, and is frequently seen inland. In April, 
however, the adults pass northwards, and I am not yet aware of a 
single breeding-place south of the Border; but as this Gull nests on 
the Scottish side of the Solway, an exception may, perhaps, have to 
be made in time to come as regards England in that neighbourhood. 
Northward the “Blue Maa,” as it is appropriately called from its 
colour, is found breeding in abundance on the coasts as well as the 
fresh-water moorland lochs of Scotland, including the Hebrides, 
Orkneys and Shetlands; but it is comparatively rare in. summer 
along those portions of the east coast which are precipitous, and 
unsuited to its habits. In Ireland the “common” Gull of the 
peasantry is generally Z. ridibundus, but since Mr. R. Warren 
found a small colony on Lough Talt, co. Sligo, in the summer of 
1855, other breeding-places have been discovered in cos. Mayo, 
Donegal and Kerry ; while in winter the bird is plentiful by the sea. 
The Common Gull is only a spring visitor to the Feeroes, and of 
rare occurrence in Iceland ; but it is numerous in Scandinavia up 
