This is the commonest of all our Gulls, and may be found abundantly throughout the year, round all our coasts. It nests in colonies, usually on the ledges of precipitous cliffs, although small low islets are occasionally resorted to. The nest is composed of grass, seaweed, and other vegetable débris, and the eggs, three in number, are greenish brown with brown and grey markings, but they are not infrequently of a uniform pale blue. Incubation is undertaken by both sexes. The young as a rule remain in or near the nest till fully fledged, but when the nest is low down near the shore they leave it much sooner. The Herring Gull is practically omnivorous; fish, rats, crustacea, and garbage thrown up by the tide are all equally appreciated, and when nesting near colonies of Guillemots and Cormorants it systematically hunts the ledges and devours any uncovered eggs it can find. During the nesting season it is very noisy and utters a variety of cries; at times the head is bent right down and suddenly thrown up in the air with a loud “ollick, ollick,” which cry is taken and repeated all over the colony. Young Gulls first commence to utter this note, which is not peculiar to the nesting season or to this species, at about three months old. If the colony be approached the birds utter a short “ow-ow”; the pairing note is a deep “mau,” not unlike a cat’s “miau,” and a soft purring “ououou,” the latter note being uttered while the bird sits down and toys with grass or other material at hand. [Illustration: HERRING GULL _Larus argentatus_ Summer] The adult in summer has the mantle French grey, secondaries grey tipped with white, outer primaries black with white tips and large subapical “mirrors.” The rest of the plumage is white. Bill yellow with a red patch at the basal angle. Legs flesh-coloured. The female is said to be smaller than the male, but the difference is not always very apparent. In winter the head and neck are streaked with brownish. The young in the first autumn are mottled all over with pale brown. They do not become fully adult until their fourth year, though they may sometimes breed in their third year. The adult plumage is assumed gradually, and there is much individual variation both as regards the time and method in which it is assumed. As a rule, however, some grey feathers appear on the back during the first summer; after the second autumn moult the under parts are chiefly white flecked with brown, but the back is chiefly brown. In their second summer much of the brown on the head and under parts is lost, the mantle becomes very grey, and the bill begins to show signs of yellow. The wing coverts and tail are, however, still very mottled.