Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/218

 the Herring Gulls. The nests of both species were placed promiscuously upon the ground, seldom more than fifty paces apart. Some of the nests were round, and carefully lined with grass, while others were more negligently constructed. A terrible uproar was raised as soon as we set foot on the island, such birds as had begun to brood remained sitting, and even allowed us to approach within a few steps of their nest, as if they thought that the fact of their presence would frighten us away. At length, however, they got up, and with loud cries flew around us at a little distance, every now and then plunging down as if to strike us, and then rising again, and taking a circuit previous to renewing the attack. Several times they flew so close over our heads that they touched us with their wings, but they did not venture to attack us with their sharp beaks. In several nests the young ones had not only managed to scramble out at our approach, but hid themselves very effectually among the long grass.

The eggs of these birds are usually three, sometimes four, in number, rough, of a yellowish grey or yellowish brown colour, tinged and spotted with dark brown and slate-grey; they are about three inches long, and rather more than two inches broad. Mr. Hewitson, who saw these Gulls breeding in the Orkney and Shetland Isles, says: "Their eggs are rich and excellent to eat; and they are in consequence a most valuable acquisition to the owners of the islands upon which they are deposited. The custom is to take the whole of the first eggs as soon as laid, and the second in like manner, allowing the birds to sit the third time. One gentleman, Mr. Scott, upon whose property they breed, and by whom we were most hospitably received, told us that he had secured sixty dozen of their eggs for winter use, though the extent of the island was scarcely half an acre."

An egg of this species was hatched in a most curious manner by a boat's crew, who kept it in a blanket by day, and near the fireplace at night. For many years this bird lived quite tame at Dartmouth, swimming in the river, and watching for the return of the fishermen, who always threw it a supply of small fishes.

THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED OR YELLOW-LEGGED GULL.

The or  (Larus fuscus). In the summer plumage of the adult bird, the head and whole of neck, all round, are pure white; the back, wing-covers, and all the wing-feathers dark slate-grey, the tips only of some of the longer scapulars and tertials being white, the shorter of the primaries have white tips; the upper tail-covers and tail-feathers are white, the breast, belly, and all the under surface of the body pure white, legs and feet yellow, bill yellow, inferior angle of lower mandible red; and the irides straw-yellow. The whole length is twenty-three inches, from the anterior joint of the wing to the tip of the longest quill-feather sixteen inches. In winter the head and neck are streaked with dusky brown.

THE HERRING GULL.

The (Larus argentatus). In summer the adults have the head and neck pure white, the back and all the wing-covers uniform delicate French grey; tertials tipped with white; primaries mostly black, but grey on basal portion of inner web, and the first primary with a triangular patch of white at the end, the second and third with smaller portions of white; upper tail-covers and tail-feathers pure white; chin, throat, breast, belly, and whole of under surface of body and tail pure white; legs and feet flesh-colour; bill yellow, angle of under mandible red; edges of eyelids orange, irides straw-yellow. The length is from twenty-two inches to twenty-four inches and a half, depending on the age and sex; wing from sixteen inches and a half to seventeen and a quarter long. In winter the adult birds have the head streaked with dusky grey. This species is common along the whole of the south coast of England, and is particularly numerous in the Isle of Wight, from Freshwater Bay to the Needles.