. British birds . pecies are indis-tinguishable in the winter plumage. The common guU has nobreeding-place south of the Border. In Scotland and its islandsthere are several colonies, and in Ireland a few. In its habits it isintermediate between the marine and inland species, and its gulleriesare placed both on islands near the sea-coast and in lochs at adistance from the shore. Like the herring-gull and black-headedgull, it follows the plough to pick up worms and grubs, and roamsover moors, marshes, and pasture-lands in search of insects, smallvertebrates, and carrion. The nest is bulky, and c
. British birds . pecies are indis-tinguishable in the winter plumage. The common guU has nobreeding-place south of the Border. In Scotland and its islandsthere are several colonies, and in Ireland a few. In its habits it isintermediate between the marine and inland species, and its gulleriesare placed both on islands near the sea-coast and in lochs at adistance from the shore. Like the herring-gull and black-headedgull, it follows the plough to pick up worms and grubs, and roamsover moors, marshes, and pasture-lands in search of insects, smallvertebrates, and carrion. The nest is bulky, and composed of sea-weed, herbage, and dry grass. Three eggs are laid, ohve-brown,spotted and streaked with blackish. GEE AT BLACK-BACKED GULL 827 Great Black-backed Gull. Larus marinus. Bill yellow; legs and feet flesh-colour; plumage as in thelesser black-hacked gull. Length, thirty inches. Turner, who wrote on British burds three centuries ago, indescribing the great black-backed gull, says that it was called cob on. Fig. 110.—Great Black-backed Gull. ^ natural size. the Kentish and Essex coast. It is curious to find that it is stillknown by this name in the same locahties, where it is now very colour and appearance it closely resembles the lesser black-back,but exceeds it in size, and is nearly twice as heavy—it is, m fact,the largest of the guUs. It is also the rarest species in the BritishIslands; for although its breeding-sites are not few in Scotland,while others exist on the coasts of England, Wales, and Ireland, itscolonies are very small compared with those of other species, andin many cases the breeding-place is occupied by a single pair. Its 328 BRITISH BIBD8 habits are similar to those of the herring and lesser black-backedgulls; but being so much larger and more powerful, it is moreinjurious to other sea-birds, whose nests it plunders of their eggs oryoung. It is also more oceanic, straying to a great distance fromland in its search for dead animal matter
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Keywords: ., bookauthorhudsonwh, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookyear1921
