Gavice 227 



Black-headed Gulls, have perfectly black heads, as in 

 the Little Gull. Sabine's and the rare Bonaparte's Gull 

 are our only other black-headed species, and in all the 

 head becomes nearly white after the breeding season. 

 Both the Little and the Black-headed Gull are grey 

 above and pinkish white below, but the smaller bird 

 lacks the black on the outer wing-quills, though it 

 is black below the wings. In both the legs are red, 

 of a more purple hue in the Little Gull. Colonies of the 

 Black-headed Gull are comparatively rare in the south 

 and south-west of England, commoner in Ireland and 

 Scotland ; but they are even found in Shetland, as well 

 as in the Faeroes, temperate Europe, and temperate 

 Asia generally. The note is shriU and peevish. 



Of the GuUs without black heads all but the Kitti- 

 wake occasionally breed inland, either round moorland 

 waters or on islands in them, and the species which 

 most frequently does so is the Common Gull (L. canus), 

 so called from its abundance on our coasts and fields 

 during the colder seasons of the year. No breeding 

 colonies exist south of the Scottish border and few in 

 Ireland, but from western and southern Scotland they 

 increase to the northward, though rare in the eastern 

 half. The grassy nests are usually placed on islands in 

 small lakes, on their stony sides, or on rock-strewn 

 slopes near the sea, and are not found on precipitous 

 chfE-faces; the eggs are of the usual GuU type, but 

 comparatively seldom green. The Common Gull is 

 abundant throughout Scandinavia, the Baltic, northern 

 and central Russia, while the form which extends across 

 northern Asia to Kamtschatka is merely a Httle larger 

 and darker above. This species is grey, with white 

 head, tail, and under surface ; the wing-quills have 



16—2 



