A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
230. Black-headed Gull. Larus ridibundus, 
Linn. 
Locally, Chir-maw, 
headed Crow. 
There are few more beautiful sights than a 
colony of these birds, which has become 
established upon one of our wilder mosses in 
early spring. The scene presented by such 
a locality as Salta Moss, when the banks of 
the dubs or small ponds are lined with the 
nests of this small gull, and the birds alight 
in every prominent position, or hover over- 
head in disordered crowds, sweeping this way 
and that, and noisily screaming their harsh 
cries of resentment at an intrusion of their 
chosen haunts, is too striking to be easily 
effaced from memory. These gregarious birds 
adapt themselves to a variety of circumstances 
in the choice of their nurseries. Some nest 
on heather-covered wastes such as Bowness 
Moss on Solway Flow ; others nest (though 
not every year) upon the green turf of Rock- 
liffe Marsh ; others again build on masses of 
water-plants, as I have witnessed at Monkhill 
Lough and Moorthwaite; and yet the greatest 
number of all elect to rear their progeny 
among the sand dunes near Ravenglass. ‘The 
young birds haunt our estuaries and inland 
waters during early autumn, but the majority 
of these immature birds appear to leave us 
before the advent of winter. 
Drake-Catcher, Black- 
231. Common Gull. Larus canus, Linn. 
A number of common gulls frequent our 
arable fields, and many haunt our shores in 
all stages of life all through the year; but 
this species has not been proved to nest in the 
county. 
232. Herring-Gull. Larus argentatus, Gmelin. 
A resident upon our coast-line all through 
the year, nesting at Sandwith and occasion- 
ally upon Bowness Flow; though this last 
remark only refers to a couple of pairs. 
Adults in all stages of plumage haunt our 
sandy reaches, feeding on small crabs and on 
all kinds of refuse, including carrion. 
233. Lesser Black-backed Gull. Larus fuscus, 
Linn. 
A numerous resident, many pairs nesting 
upon Solway Flow and Bowness Moss; and, 
inland, upon Butterburn Flow. At other 
seasons it is distributed all round our coast. 
It is a common visitant to our rivers, and im- 
mature birds often assemble in our fields. It 
is a very voracious bird, and frequently kills 
young wild ducks. Mr. D. L. Thorpe in- 
forms me that on two different occasions he 
has seen a lesser black-backed gull capture a 
full-grown eel in the shallows of the Eden, 
and devour it upon a neighbouring gravel bed. 
234. Great Black - backed Gull. 
marinus, Linn. 
Locally, Devoke, Water-Maw (obs.). 
A few immature birds frequent our coast 
at all seasons, and adults are generally present, 
but there is only a single breeding station, 
that of Bowness Moss, where a very few pairs 
contrive to hold their own. Odd pairs occa- 
sionally rear their young on Wedholm Flow, 
and on other mosses in the vicinity of the 
Solway Firth. 
Devoke Water was the home of this bird 
from the ‘twenties’ to the ‘seventies,’ when 
the breeding birds for some unexplained 
reason suddenly abandoned their time- 
honoured breeding-ground. Although occa- 
sionally met with far from the coast, this bird 
is most characteristic of the Solway Firth, 
where its cries often float along the shingled 
shore. ‘There is something weird and strik- 
ing about the deep note of Larus marinus that 
serves to distinguish it markedly from the 
shriller cries of all our common sea-gulls, 
When a heavy westerly gale has been blow- 
ing up the firth with almost hurricane force 
for many hours, and long green rollers come 
foaming landward, the great black-backed gull 
hovers over the raging waters with swift and 
veering flight, easily borne aloft by its power- 
ful pinions, and finding its pleasure in the 
contemplation of the raging elements. But it 
is equally at home upon our sands on a 
summer’s day, when the sunshine gilds the 
light ripples at the edge of the tideway ; at 
such a time, a pair of fully adult birds make 
up a pretty picture, as they pose in the centre 
of a group of seafowl, slowly shifting their 
position as the rising tide encroaches upon 
them. 
Larus 
235. Glaucous Gull. Larus glaucus, Fabricius. 
A rare winter visitant, occurring all round 
our seaboard, but only at long intervals. The 
only bird that I saw in life during my seven- 
teen years’ residence in Lakeland was driven 
upon our coast by a westerly hurricane. It 
was so tired of battling against the adverse 
elements that I was able to inspect it leisurely, 
though it would not permit me to approach 
quite within gunshot. It was in nearly adult 
plumage, the delicate mantle being only varied 
with a few immature feathers. It was rest- 
ing on the beach near Allonby when first 
observed. On February 25th, 1892, a very 
pale immature bird which had frequented the 
Esk near Floriston since the beginning of the 
month was killed when feeding on a dead fish, 
214 
