s are never placed
on ledges on the steep precipitous face of the cliffs, but amongst the
bracken and the flat rocks, as at Burhou, the only rather steep rock I
have seen any nests on was at the Amfrocques, but there they were on the
flattish top of the rock, and not on ledges on the side.

Professor Ansted includes the Lesser Black-backed Gull in his list, but
only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is one specimen in the
Museum.

169. COMMON GULL. _Larus canus_, Linnaeus. French, "Goeland cendre,"
"Mouette a pieds bleus,"[34] "La Mouette d'Hiver".[35]--The Common Gull,
though by no means uncommon in the Channel Islands during the winter,
never remains to breed there, nor does it do so, I believe, any where in
the West of England, certainly not in Somerset or Devon, as stated by
Mr. Dresser in the 'Birds of Europe,' _fide_ the Rev. M.A. Mathew and
Mr. W.D. Crotch, who must have made some mistake as to its breeding in
those two counties; in Cornwall it is said to breed, by Mr. Dresser, on
the authority of Mr. Rodd. Mr. Dresser, however, does not seem to have
had his authority direct from either of these gentlemen, and only quotes
it from Mr. A.G. More. Mr. Rodd, however, in his 'Notes on the Birds of
Cornwall,' published in the 'Zoologist' for 1870, only says, "Generally
distributed in larger or smaller numbers along or near our coasts,"
which would be equally true of the Channel Islands, although it does not
breed there; however, as Mr. Rodd is going to publish his interesting
notes on the Birds of Cornwall in a separate form, it is much to be
hoped that he will clear that matter up as far as regards that county
and the Scilly Islands. Like the Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gull,
the Common Gull goes through several changes of plumage before it
arrives at maturity; like them it begins with the mottled brownish
stage, and gradually assumes the blue-grey mantle of maturity; in the
earlier stages the primaries have no white spots at the tips. The legs
and bill, which appear to go through more changes than in other Gulls,
are in an intermediate state bluish grey (which accounts for Temminck's
name mentioned above) before they assume the pale yellow of maturity:
although at this time they have the mantle quite as in the adult, there
is a material difference in the pattern of the primary quills, and they
do not appear to breed till their bills have become quite yellow and
their legs a pale greenish yellow. I canno