The LESSER BLACK-BACKED or YELLOW-LEGGED GULL (_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 HERRING GULL (_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. During winter the Herring Gulls spread themselves along the coast, especially frequenting the estuaries where young herrings are congregated. "When engaged with a shoal of fry," says Macgillivray, "the Herring Gulls hover over the water, now ascending to a height perhaps of twenty feet, then skimming close over the surface, and on observing an object, stretching upward and vibrating their wings and letting down their feet so as to touch and sometimes pat the water, they pick it up without alighting. Sometimes they plunge partly into the water, and occasionally seize their prey while swimming. All this while they emit now and then a loud and rather shrill cry. They feed on shell-fish, and occasionally large dead fishes, crustaceans, molluscs, echini, &c. During the winter and spring they travel inland, seeking for insects, worms, and similar fare, they rest on beaches and headlands, usually lying down, but sometimes standing on one leg."