HERRING GULL. 
155 
deposits her two or three eggs, in colour, size, and markings 
as represented in our Plate. 
On our coasts, the shores of Wales, the Bristol Channel, 
and the vicinity of the Isle of Wight are the most fre¬ 
quented. Where rocky shelves are wanting, the nest is 
generally placed among long grasses or loose stones. 
This gull is very easily tamed, and will endure long in 
confinement, as its wants are easily supplied by raw meat, 
or any animal matter, provided a proper supply of water 
is given it, as well for drinking as for washing and 
bathing. 
In the quarto edition of British Birds, we gave a figure 
of the Larus argeiitaloides, or Greater Herring Gull, a 
supposed species which had been separated from the 
Larus argentatus of Bewick and other authors, by the 
Prince of Musignano, on account of the great disparity 
in size to be remarked in many individuals, one of which 
we had at the time in our possession, shot on the coast of 
Suffolk. 
This specimen measured twenty-seven inches in length ; 
the beak from the forehead two inches three lines, and 
three inches six lines from the gape; the wing from the 
carpus to the tip seventeen inches and a quarter. Its 
weight was thirty-one ounces; exceeding the measure¬ 
ments usually assigned to the largest specimens of the 
Larus argentatus. 
We are now, however, induced to omit the Prince of 
Musignano’s species, on account of the observations made 
upon it by M. Temminck, in his fourth vol. of “Manuel 
d’Orn."” in which he says,— 
“ The specimens that we have received from Italy, 
through M. Cantraine, do not differ in the least from 
