428 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



Mr. A. G. More received from the late Dr. Gough, that the 

 Common Gull bred in Westmorland. It is only fair, however, 

 to say that the late Mr. R. Gray, as early as 1871, reported that 

 this Gull bred in the ' Scottish Solway ' faunal area, a decision 

 fully confirmed by the researches of Mr. Robert Service. The 

 Common Gull remains with us until April, in which month a 

 few examples always visit Monkhill Lough for a short period. 

 In April 1890 I witnessed an entertaining attack made by a 

 Carrion Crow upon a bird of this species. The black robber 

 persistently pursued its quarry backwards and forwards, rising 

 and falling, but the Gull showed great agility, and occasionally 

 turned the tables by swooping swiftly at its adversary, which it 

 finally left far astern. The Crow then departed, but not 

 without making an ineffectual swoop at another immature Gull 

 of the same species which happened to cross its line of flight. 

 The largest number of Gulls of this species that I have observed 

 together belonged to a flock of seventy individuals. 



HERRING GULL. 



Larus argentatus, G-mel. 



The Herring Gull is a common bird at all seasons on our 

 coast, particularly between Silloth and St. Bees, which it 

 especially affects, fishing in the waters of the Irish channel, 

 and resting on the sands and shingled beach. It is not so 

 common inland as the Lesser Black-backed Gull ; nevertheless it 

 may frequently be observed feeding in the fields during the 

 winter months, especially after gales at sea. As a breeding bird, 

 its chief stronghold is in the red sandstone cliffs at St. Bees, 

 which afford many of the grassy ledges which this Gull generally 

 chooses for the purpose of nidification. Another haunt is 

 Foulshaw moss, in the neighbourhood of Morecambe Bay. Mr. 

 W. A. Durnford found that the Herring Gull bred on that moss 

 in 1879, in the proportion of one Herring Gull to ten Lesser 

 Black-backed Gulls. In 1885 Mr. F. S. Mitchell reported to 

 me that the Lesser Black-backed Gulls were nearly banished 

 from Foulshaw, and that the Herring Gull had become the 

 dominant species. In 1891 I found that the Herring Gulls of 



