Birds of Britain 



somewhat " squat " appearance, and it does not run about on 

 land with the same facility. In correlation with this we 

 find it to be a much more pelagic species, and though found 

 commonly round our shores, it gets most of its food on the 

 water and is rarely to be found among the large flocks of 

 other Gulls that spend much of their time on the shore 

 itself. Its food consists almost entirely of fish, in pursuit 

 of which it dives and swims under water with ease. 



It nests on the ledges of precipitous cliffs in immense 

 colonies, and in some cases the population of these colonies 

 must amount to very many thousands. The nest is built of 

 seaweed and other flotsam, and is often larger than the narrow 

 ledge on which it is placed. The eggs, two or three in 

 number, are usually pale greyish white, blotched and zoned 

 with ash grey and brown ; the shell is rougher in texture 

 than in the other species. They are laid very late in the 

 season, so that it is generally July before the young are 

 hatched. Both sexes take part in the incubation, and the 

 young are entirely nidicolous, not leaving the nest till they 

 are well able to fly. 



In summer the adults very closely resemble the common 

 Gull, but it is a smaller bird, and the black legs, on which 

 the hind toe is absent, form an unfailing characteristic. In 

 winter the nape and hind neck are grey like the mantle. 

 Length 15 '5 in. ; wing 12 in. 



The young bird in its first autumn has the nape greyish 

 but darker than in the adult, and the wing coverts and inner 

 secondaries are thickly spotted with brownish black. 



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