This species, moreover, is much less intolerant of heat than the common gull; and while the former is compelled to wing its way to the more northern coasts for the breeding-season, the herring-gull, like the kittiwake, nests by scores on the southern coast of England, wherever conditions suitable to its habits exist. The kittiwake, it may be mentioned, differs from other gulls by the absence of the hind-toe, and is therefore referred to a genus by itself, under the appropriate name of _Rissa tridactyla_. The only other species likely to be confounded in the summer plumage, when the black-headed species have donned their chocolate or black caps, is the greater white-winged gull (_L. hyperboreus_), which differs by the paler tone of the plumage generally and more especially by the feature to which it owes its name. [Illustration] The herring-gull is a wide-ranging species, met with on both sides of the North Atlantic, extending eastwards to the White Sea, and in winter as far south as the Black and Caspian Seas and the Mediterranean. In America herring-gulls visit in summer the inhospitable coasts of Labrador and Greenland, but in winter wander south to the genial climate of the West Indies and Central America, where, in all probability, they cross the continent to join a closely allied gull inhabiting the Pacific. In Europe the southern breeding range of this handsome species seems to be formed by the northern coasts of France. Herring-gulls, where conditions are favourable, may be found nesting on the coasts of the British Isles from the south of England to the Orkneys and the Shetlands, as well as in Ireland, where they are the most common and most widely spread members of their tribe in the breeding-season. Sometimes only a few gulls nest in company, but in other situations large colonies collect for breeding purposes; and it is noteworthy that the breeding sites are always in the neighbourhood of the shore and generally on tall cliffs. Another noteworthy feature of the herring-gull is that the adult livery is not assumed till the fourth year, in consequence of which an unusually large number of birds in the speckled dress are always in evidence. THE GREAT HORNED OWL (_Bubo ignavus_) The great horned, or eagle, owl, the largest European representative of the nocturnal birds-of-prey, is the typical member of a group characterised by the relatively small size of the apertures of the ears, which are not closed by covers, and likewise by the more or less imperfect development of the disc-like ring of feathers round the eye, which forms such a conspicuous feature in ordinary owls. The so-called horns are, it need scarcely be mentioned, tufts of long, somewhat hair-like feathers growing from the neighbourhood of the ears. These ear-tufts are common to the so-called long-eared owls, which are, however, all birds of smaller size, with larger ear-openings, protected by special covers, and complete discs of feathers round the eyes.