the presence of brovm feathers in the wittgs, and a black bar 

 across the tip of the tail. Here and there among them 

 one may see much larger birds of a brownish-grey colour, and 

 with black beaks and pale coloured legs, in place of the cherry- 

 red of the beak and legs of the " black-headed " species. 

 These are the immature stages of the greater and lesser 

 black-backed guUs ; or of the herring gull. When fully 

 adult the two first-named have the back and wings of a dark 

 slate colour, the rest of the plumage dazzling white. The 

 beak is pale yellow, with a red spot on the angle of the 

 lower jaw. During flight the wings are also black, but the 

 primaries have white tips. The herring-guU has a pale 

 pearl-grey back. 



With a strange perversity the black-headed gull is 

 commonly called, by the novice, the " kittiwake." This is a 

 totally different bird, rather like a herrihg-gull in miniature, 

 but with a green beak and short black legs. Moreover, it is 

 rarely seen inland. It breeds in vast colonies on the ledges 

 of precipitous cUffs along the Scottish coast and the west of 

 Ireland. There are colonies, too, on Lundy, the Scilly Isles, 

 and the Fames. 



One other guU must be mentioned here, though it is not 

 common, save in the northern parts of Scotland. But it is 

 a regular winter migrant down the east coast of England 

 during the winter. This is Richardson's skua. You may 



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