BIRDS 427 



from less inviting sources. In the spring of the year, when 

 their eggs are in brisk demand for the table, their food is of a 

 wholesome character. No doubt they obtain many small 

 Crustacea in our estuaries. I am disposed to conjecture that 

 when severe frost induces these marine animals to leave the 

 shallows and retire into deep water, the Gulls are almost com- 

 pelled to seek the larger proportion of their food upon the 

 higher reaches of the river; notwithstanding which, many of 

 their number return before nightfall to roost upon the sandy 

 margins of our estuaries, clustering together so closely that one 

 of the punt-gunners killed thirty at a shot. Upon inquiring of 

 his son what purpose such slaughter might fulfil, I received the 

 naive assurance, ' They 's terrible good eating ! ' That such was a 

 common estimate of 'sey mewes' during the Caroline period 

 may fairly be inferred from' the Naworth Accounts. The birds 

 were generally fattened artificially for the table. Of the young 

 birds that were sent to Naworth for this purpose a proportion 

 seems to" have been of Northumbrian origin ; others were 

 supplied from the colony of Black-headed Gulls near Muncaster 

 by ' my Lady Savell.' In 1618 we find entered the cost of 

 accommodating these birds : 'June . . . 20. To Andrew Creak 

 for 2 dayes making a place for gulls and hernsues, vj d .' A 

 'crook for the gull house' was provided the same year at 

 the cost of twopence. In 1622 we find an entry of August 

 10 : 'A knife to cut the gull's meat, ij.' 



COMMON GULL. 



Larus canus, L. 



The Common Gull frequents our coasts at all seasons, and 

 often feeds inland. It is also a frequent visitor to our salt 

 marshes during autumn and winter. But the birds which are 

 usually seen off Whitehaven and elsewhere in the month of 

 June have generally been immature, and the same must be said 

 of those remarked inland. Dr. Heysham recorded this Gull as 

 nesting in Cumberland, but, in the absence of any hint as to 

 where it bred, we may not unjustly assume that he was mis- 

 taken ; a remark which applies equally to the statement which 



