Mr. Thompson says the Common Gull remains all the year
in Ireland ; it is found also all round the south, and east
coast, from Wales to Sussex, and from thence to Norfolk
and Lincolnshire. At St. Abb’s Head, a bold and rocky
headland of Berwickshire, these birds, Mr. Selby says, are
very numerous, during the.breeding-season, and occupy the
whole face of the cljff.t In Sutherlandshire, the : same species,
Mr. Selby observes, has séyeral breeding-stations ;;v viz. upon
Loch Shin, Loch Laighal, and various smaller lochs. Mr. J.
Macgillivray noticed the Common,Gull on several islets of
the Outer Hébrides there it was found occasionallyifeeed--
ing in the interior. In Orkney and Shetland, Mr. Dunn
says, I have found a few pairs incubating in. company with the
Herring. Gull, and occasionally a solitary pair breeding, in the
cliffs without any associates ; they may be found occasionally
on the small islands in the lakes.;
. Professor Nilssomconsiders this rbird onebfi the common
Gulls in Sweden ; it was seen in Norway by Mr. Hewitson,
who states that two thousand eggs were gathered for thefcuse
of. the inhabitants from one island only. Linn eus, : in his
tour in Lapland, mentions having, léén hundreds of this Gull
in the CQrn-fields'of WestbothlandjVand one alsolôm-the Lapt
land Alps. I t is found at the Faroe’ Islands ; and Mr.
Proctor observed that it was plentiful at Iceland! I t is included
in a list of birds found by Naturalists at Nova Zembla,
and .waslobsërvëd by Dr. Richardson in Arctic .America. v(
This species • is comm on on the shores of Holland and
France ; it is found in Spain, at;,. Genoa, and in Italy.; . The
Zoological Sociéty have received specimens, sent by Keith
Abbott, Esq. from Trebizond, and> the Russian Naturalists
found it in the vicinity óf the Caspian Sea.
In the adult bird in summer the .bill is gr eenish-gr èy at the
base, towards th e point yellow ; irides dark brown, edges of
the eye-lids red ; the whole head-and neck pure white-; the
back and all the wing-coverts pearl-grey, secondaries and ter-
tials the same, but ^broadly edged and tipped with white ;
primaries black on the outer web, with a small portion of
pearl-grey at the base of the inner web, the proportion of
grey increasing on each primary in succession, the first and
second primary with a patch of white on both webs near the
end, but jfehe extreme tips of both are black, the third, fourth,
fifth, and sixth, have white' tips, but the first set of primary
quill-feathers which theVÿoüiig'' bird cames for the first fifteen
months, ha^ël no white at the tips. F ew birds moult their
first set of quill-feathers in their first autumn. Tail-coverts
and ^ail-feathers pure chin, neck in front, breast, and
all the under surface of the body and tail pure white ; legs
and te e t dark greenish-ash. The whole-length of an old male
eighteen inches and~a half ; of the wing from the point fourteen
inches and a hal£ The length of an old female about
one inch les&y and of the wing half an inch less.
In the winter thdflsfeole head and the sides of the neck are
streaked and spotted with-dusky brown and ash-brown.
A young bird in its first autumn' has the basal portion of
the bill yellowish-brown, the part anterior to the nostrils
nearly black ; irides dusky ; head, sides of the neck, the ear-
coverts and occiput dull white, mottled with greyish-brown ;
the back, wing-coverts, secondaries and tertjals brownish-ash,
the feathers edged-Vith paler A w n ; a feW bluish-grey feathers
on the centre and sides of the back ; the primaries
nearly black, both as to .the shafts and greater part of the
webs, all but. the firstfrftèing tipped with , brown ; upper tail—
-étfÿerts dull tail-feathers white, the' outer half black,
except, the outer feather on each side, which has the outer
web white ; chin and throat white ; neck in front, the breast,
and all the under surface of the body, mottled with light ash-
brown, on a ground of white ; legs and feet pale yellowish-
brown,-' the claws black.