LARUS ARGENTATUS, Brum.
Herring’ Gull.
Lams argentatus, Briinn. Orn. Bot., p. 44.
Laroides major, argenteus, argentatoides, argenta'.ceus et American us, Brehm.
I f ornithologists are right in considering Brehm’s numerous names synonyms o f the present species,
the Herring-Gull will hereafter be only known by the specific term argentatus; indeed this is the appellation by
which it is generally recognized, and certainly is the one that should be retained for this familiar Gull— a
Gull that is more generally dispersed around the shores of the British Isles than any other, while, numerically
speaking, there is no one o f the larger kinds that can be compared with i t ; and I question if there be one of
our rock-loving birds which is held in greater favour—its graceful flight, the silvery whiteness o f its head,
tail, and under surface, and the delicate grey o f its back, relieved by. the black marks near the tips o f its
pinions, rendering it an object o f great beauty when sailing about in the neighbourhood o f the frowning cliffs,
on which it lays its charmingly coloured eggs. All artists who attempt the delineation o f such wild scenes
as the rookeries o f the Guillemot and Puffin, always depict the Herring-Gull among the foremost o f the
objects. It is the bird, beyond alLothers, that is so enchanting to the ornithologist when he looks over such
precipices as the Needles, in the Isle o f Wight, and those o f Handa Island, lying off the west coast of Sutherland,
and sees in the dark abyss below the thousands o f birds that are winging their way over the waters,
their various cries mingling with the sound o f the wind reverberating from the rocks and the thundering
roar o f the waves which gradually increase in violence as they come across the wide Atlantic and are
here brought to a stand. Although so numerous around the coasts of England, Ireland, and Scotland, the
Herring-Gull is seldom, if ever, seen southward o f the Bay o f Biscay; and some ornithologists have gone
so far as to assure me that it does not frequent the Mediterranean at all. This assertion I cannot, of
my own experience, either refute or confirm; but I think it is probably correct, as the bird is evidently
as much a northern species as many others o f the larger members o f the Laridce. In Britain its numbers
certainly increase as we proceed northward, and it is a hundred times as numerous off the coasts of
Scotland as on those o f England. It frequents the seas o f the northern portion o f Europe, and is as
abundant in the Baltic as it is with u s ; but how much further eastwards it proceeds has not yet been
clearly ascertained. Jerdon does not include it in his ‘ Birds o f India,’ thus clearly showing that it is
not a southern bird. In America, Dr. Baird informs us that it frequents the Atlantic, and it is common
from Texas to Newfoundland.
Before I proceed to give some extracts respecting the habits, economy, and peculiarities o f the Herring-
Gull as described by other writers, I give a note kindly forwarded to me by W. Oxenden Hammond, Esq.,
o f St. Alban’s Court, Kent. I consider the scene upon which he has written o f interest, and one that
may have been witnessed by others.
“ Writing from Connemara, my brother says ‘ On September 7, 1868, we walked to the crest o f the
mountain-cliff that rises precipitously out o f the deep waters o f the Atlantic at the extreme west point of
the Island o f Achill. We saw a sun-fish straight down below us : having come up from the deep water, he
basked for a few minutes in the sun, and then sank ; in a minute or two he floated again. A Sea-gull (I
should say the Common Herring-Gull, a large white Gull, with blue-grey back and wings) immediately went
down to him off the cliff, when the fish, instead o f taking alarm and sinking, allowed the bird to settle within
two feet, and swim around him. The distance was too great for us to see the Gull’s eyes or his bill open
and shut; but I distinctly saw him breast the fish and occupy himself with it for some time; and I am
satisfied that the fish was encumbered by parasites, and that it came up for the purpose o f being relieved,
and that the Gull responded and was probably in the common habit o f rendering such service. The fish rose
and sank several times whilst we remained on the cliff.’ ”
Mr. Robert Gray, writing on the birds o f Western Scotland, p. 487, says “ From Ailsa Craig northwards
to the Shiant Isles and the cliffs o f Cape Wrath, the Silvery Gull, as this species has been called, has
many breeding-places. For the most part it prefers nesting on the turf, near the summit o f its sea-beaten
haunts, and is therefore found at times in colonies, not mixing with, but sitting alongside, groups o f Lesser
Black-backs as well as the Great Black-backs, forming a large but harmonious family o f Gulls, conspicuous