GLAUCOUS GULL. 
75 
length. By this means also the young birds of the two species 
can be distinguished. 
Range in Great Britain. — This species breeds in Scotland, but 
Mr. Saunders states that he is not aware of any nesting-place 
in England, or, indeed, south of the Border. In Scotland, 
however, it breeds not only on the coasts, where such are 
favourable, but on inland lochs as far north as the Hebrides, 
the Orkneys, and Shetland Isles. In Ireland, Mr. Ussher 
says, it breeds in small colonies, and in separate pairs, on 
islands in lakes (usually near the coast) of Donegal, Mayo, 
and Galway, but sometimes at a distance from the sea, as in 
Lough Mask and Lake Dahybawn in Mayo, an island on the 
latter containing a colony of some fifty nests. There are some 
marine breeding-places, as on islands in Blacksod Bay, and a 
few pairs breed on one of the Blasquet Islands, off Kerry. 
Range outside the British Islands. — According to Air. Saunders, 
the Common Gull is found in Europe and Northern Asia down 
to about 53° N. Lab, where it breeds. In winter it is found 
in the Alediterrancan Basin, the Nile Valley, and the Persian 
Gulf. It also extends from Kamschatka to Japan and China. 
It is a rare bird in Iceland, and only one instance of its capture 
in North America has been authenticated, a young bird having 
once been obtained in Labrador. 
Habits. — These resemble those of the other British Gulls 
described above. It is more or less gregarious, but in the 
autumn many single birds are to be observed on our coasts 
and estuaries. Its food consists of fish, but it will also come 
inland and follow the plough for the sake of worms and grubs, 
while, like other Gulls, it will also eat young birds. In some 
parts of its range it adopts the deserted nest of a Hooded 
Crow, or other bird, in a high tree, on the summit or the 
branches of which it will be seen to perch. 
Nest. — A rough sti'ucture of grass or seaweed in the open, 
but sometimes it will be placed on the ledge of a cliff, or on 
the top of a rock, or even, as remarked above, on a tree. Air. 
Robert Read writes to me : — “I have always found the nests 
of the Common Gull on the shores of fresh-water lakes, or on 
the islands in one of these waters. The birds are particularly 
fond of nesting on isolated rocks, sometimes on a boulder, 
