382 



primary black, with a broad white bar close to the tip, the second with a smaller white bar, and the 

 third with merely a white spot near the tip; inner primaries French-grey, with a large, irregular, 

 inverted-V-shaped bar across the tip, and finally tipped with white, the black becoming less towards 

 the secondaries, which are pale French grey at the base and white towards the tip ; beak greenish 

 yellow; legs greenish grey; iris greyish; edge of the eyelid vermilion. Total length 17 inches, 

 culmen 1-8, wing 14, tail 5 - 5, tarsus 185. 



Female. Similar to the male. 



Adult Male in the winter. Differs merely in having the head and nape striated with dull brown. 



Young Male (Hempstead, January 1866) . Head and neck dirty white, striped with brown ; back, scapulars, 

 and wing-coverts dull light brown, broadly margined with dull greyish white, here and there a few 

 blue-grey feathers of the mature dress showing themselves ; rump and upper tail-coverts dirty white, 

 marked with brown ; tail white, the terminal half being blackish brown, narrowly tipped with white ; 

 primaries blackish brown ; secondaries grey on the inner web from the base, narrowing off towards the 

 tip, and narrowly tipped with dull white, the inner secondaries dull grey, marked with dirty brown, and 

 broadly tipped with white ; underparts dirty white, spotted and marked with dull light brown ; beak 

 dirty yellow at the base, black at the tip ; iris brown. 



Young in down (Orkneys) . Covered all over with soft yellowish grey down, whiter in tint on the face, 

 throat, and abdomen ; forehead blackish brown ; entire upper parts spotted here and there with large 

 blackish spots, one or two spots being also on the throat, underparts generally unspotted, except that 

 on the flanks there are some irregular black marks. It may be distinguished from the young of other 

 Gulls by a large black spot which touches the base of the upper mandible, and which is never absent, 

 though often varying considerably in size. 



In Great Britain this Gull is more common during the winter than in the summer season ; but 

 it is said to breed in the south of England. Mr. A. G. More writes that it " breeds in Cornwall 

 (Mr. E. H. Rodd), in North Devon (Rev. M. A. Mathew), and in Somerset (Mr. W. D. Crotch), 

 in Pembrokeshire (Mr. J. Tracy), and in Cumberland (Mr. T. Gough). On the east coast of 

 England the Rev. J. C. Atkinson assures me that the Common Gull breeds in the Essex marshes, 

 where it is rare. It is believed to nest on the cliffs of Yorkshire ; but it appears to be a scarce 

 bird in most of the English localities, and seems to be wanting also in several of the Scottish 

 districts." Dr. R. O. Cunningham found it breeding on the Bass ; and with regard to its range 

 in Scotland, Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown writes to us that " the Common Gull's distribution in 

 Scotland may be described as western and northern. It extends to the Outer Hebrides, where an 

 immense colony occupies a large green island in one of the innumerable freshwater lochs of North 

 Uist. In Sutherland it is a very abundant species, breeding in large and small colonies, often in 

 company with Larus fuscus, there and elsewhere in the west of Scotland, frequenting lochs at a 

 considerable elevation above the sea. On Loch-na-Nean (Loch of the Birds), on the confines of 

 Perth, Aberdeen, and Forfar, it is also found breeding at a considerable elevation. This loch 

 contains fine large yellow trout, and is said to be one of the highest lochs in Scotland that con- 

 tains fish." Mr. Robert Gray also, writing on the birds of the west of Scotland, states that " its 

 breeding-places are similar to those selected by the Lesser Black-backed Gull ; they are found 



