AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 235 



of hoarse laugh, and often go so far as a scream. In 

 Norfolk numbers of this species may be seen following 

 the plough and greedily devouring the worms and 

 grubs that are turned up, and in summer they seem 

 to feed to a considerable extent on flying insects ; 

 I have seen more than one dragon-fly taken in fair 

 flight by these Gulls. A few pairs of young Brown- 

 headed Gulls were sent to me some years ago as a 

 present from the owner of a famous " Gullery " in 

 Lincolnshire, and two pairs of these birds nested 

 and reared young in the aviaries at Lilford ; I gave 

 some of these last their liberty in the hope that 

 they would remain about our ponds, but they 

 strayed ofi" to the river, and eventually disappeared 

 entirely. 



205. COMMON GULL. 



Larus ccniiis. 



In the neighbourhood of Lilford this Gull fre- 

 quently appears in August and September, at that 

 season usually singly and in immature plumage ; in 

 the winter months we are occasionally visited by 

 small flocks of a dozen or twenty individuals in 

 company with other species, but as I have stated in 

 the preceding article, the epithet of "Common" is 

 vnrongly applied to this Gull in England generally, 

 and very certainly it is by no means the common 

 Gull of Northamptonshire. I have more than once 

 found single birds of this species in September, 

 haunting the small ponds of our pasture-fields at 

 a distance from the river — a habit that I have not 

 observed with regard to any of the other Gulls that visit 



