CHAPTER XII. 
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (lst Part). 
The Status of the Black-headed Gull.*—Very different from 
that of the birds which we have been describing, was the 
status of our familiar favourite, the Black-headed Gull, which 
one may suppose to have been always common, although 
probably never so abundant in Great Britain as now. As 
it has been clearly shown to be of considerable use to agricul- 
turists by feeding upon their enemies, the wireworm and the 
larvee of the crane-fly,f it is to be hoped that it will continue 
to multiply, and to receive the protection which it deserves. 
What is known about the distribution of this inland breeding 
Gull in former times is not much. As in the case of many 
other birds, we must begin with Turner, for there is nothing 
earlier, but he fortunately has left us rather a good account 
of it,f though he does not say that he had ever seen a breeding- 
place. To him, as he watched its graceful flight, this bird 
was known as the grey gull ‘‘a se cob or a see-gull,”’ which 
came up rivers, the bird “ always querulous and full of noise,” 
as it flew round his ship when at anchor. Very descriptive 
is his sketch, where he likens it to a Daw in size, but goes 
on to note that its wings are sharper and longer. It may 
have been on the same great River Thames that John Ray, 
an Essex man, made its acquaintance, for he remarks especially 
on the number of them which there were at Gravesend.§ 
Ray also gives a good description both in his “Ornithology” 
and in one of his Itineraries. 
1. One ancient settlement of Black-headed Gulls, which 
has had its ups and downs, but which is still fairly well popu- 
lated, is situated at Scoulton in Norfolk, where there is a mere 
* Larus ridibundus Lin, 
t See Reports issued in 1907 by the Cumberland County Council, and in 
1913 by the Suffolk and Essex Fishery Board (‘ Zoologist,”” XVIII, p. 181). 
t ‘“ Turmer on Birds,” edited by A. H. Evans, pp. 77-79. 
§ ‘‘ The Ornithology,” p. 347, 
