The common gull 283 



Before winter the distinctive character afforded by the brown 

 plumage of the head and neck has entirely disappeared. These parts 

 are now of a pure white, and the red legs afford the best distinguish- 

 ing feature. Persons residing on the coast, who are familiarly 

 acquainted with the habits of the bird, but are unaware of the peri- 

 odical change in its colour, consider the two forms of the bird as 

 distinct species. Thus I have received from a marsh on the coast of 

 Norfolk the eggs of the ' Black-Headed Gull ', and have had the 

 same bird pointed out to me in winter as the ' Red-Legged Pigeon- 

 Mow ' (Mew).. One flock of about thirty thus pointed out to me 

 presented a very pretty sight. They had detected either a shoal 

 of small fishes, or a collection of dead animal matter floating among 

 the breakers, and were feeding with singular activity. 



THE COMMON GULL 



LARUS CANUS 



In spring the head and neck of this species are white and the mantle is a pale 

 grey, a little darker in summer, the head, tail and under parts white ; 

 primaries comparatively long, and the three outer pairs dull black on 

 the lower portions, with large white ' mirrors ' near the tips in mature 

 birds — in the rest the predominant tone is a pale grey, the black only 

 forming a bar, and all but the first primary broadly tipped with white ; 

 bill a rich yellow towards the point ; legs and feet greenish yellow in 

 summer, darker in winter. In winter the head and neck are streaked 

 and spotted with ash-brown. Length eighteen inches. 



This is a species resident in Great Britain, but it is not known 

 to breed south of the Solway. It nests, however, in the west of 

 Ireland ; grassy sides and islands of lochs or slopes that face the 

 sea, not far often above high-water, are its favourite resorts, where 

 it breeds in colonies, the nest of seaweeds, heather and dry grass 

 being fairly large. In it will be, as a rule, three eggs, an olive-brown, 

 spotted and streaked with a blackish tone ; but pale blue, light 

 green and straw-coloured varieties are found often. This Gull is 

 the first to seek the shore on the approach of ' coarse ' weather ; 

 and it may often be studied in the fields as it picks up grubs among 

 the furrows in the company of Rooks, or by the town-tied Cockney, 

 from his own standpoint of Westminster Bridge. 



The ' Blue Maa ', as this species is called in the north, breeds in 

 abundance on the Scottish coasts as well as the moors of the fresh- 

 water lochs, including the Hebrides, Orkneys and Shetlands. 

 The Black-Headed Gull is generally the Common Gull of the peasantry 

 in Ireland, but the underside of the wing in the young of the Com- 



