Birds of Guernsey (1879) by Cecil Smith

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167. HERRING GULL. _Larus argentatus_, Gmelin. French, "Goeland
argente," "Goeland a manteau bleu."--The Herring Gull is very common,
indeed the commonest Gull, and is resident in all the Islands throughout
the year, breeding in nearly all of them in such places as are suited to
it. In Guernsey it breeds on the high cliffs, from the so-called Gull
Cliff, near Pleinmont, to the Corbiere, the Gouffre, the Moye Point to
Petit Bo in considerable numbers; from Petit Bo Bay to St. Martin's
Point much more sparingly. In Sark it breeds in considerable numbers; on
Little Sark on both sides of the Coupee, and on nearly all the west
side; that towards Guernsey, especially about Harbour Goslin, a place
called the Moye de Moutton near there, which is a most excellent place
for watching the breeding operations of this Gull as well as of the
Shags, as with a moderate climb on the rocks one can easily look into
several nests and see what both old and young are about. On the island
close to Sark, called Isle de Merchant, or Brechou, especially on the
steep rocky side nearest to Sark; a great many also breed on and about
the Autelets: in fact, almost all the grandest and wildest scenery in
Sark has been appropriated by the Herring Gulls for their
breeding-places, who, except for the Shags, hold almost undisputed
possession of the grandest part of the Island. On the east side, or that
towards France, few or no Herring Gulls breed; the cliffs being more
sloping, and covered with grass and gorse, and heather, are not at all
suited for breeding purposes for the Herring Gull. A few pairs have
lately set up a small breeding-station on the rock before mentioned near
Jethou, as La Fauconniere; a very few also breed on Herm on the south
part nearest to Jethou, but none that we could see on the rocks to the
north of Herm. A great many breed also in Alderney on the south and east
sides, but none on the little island of Burhou, which has been entirely
appropriated by the Lesser Black-backs; in all these places the Herring
Gulls and Shags take almost entire possession of the rocks, the Lesser
Black-backs apparently never mixing with them; indeed, except a chance
straggler or two passing by, a Lesser Black-back is scarcely to be seen
at any of these stations. The Herring Gull and the Lesser Black-back,
though very distinct in their adult plumage, and even before they fully
arrive at maturity, as soon as they begin to show the different colour
of the mantle, which they do in their second autumn, when a few of
either the dark or the pale grey feathers appear amongst the brownish
ones of the young bird, are before this change begins very much alike.
In the down I think they are almost, if not quite, indistinguishable
after that in their first feathers, and up to their first winter they
appear to me distinguishable. As far as the primary quills go I do not
see much difference; the shafts, perhaps, of the quills of the Lesser
Black-back are darker than those of the Herring, but the difference if
anything is very slight; but the head and neck and the centres of the
feathers of the back of the Lesser Black-back are darker,--more of a
dark smoky brown than those of the Herring Gull: this difference of
colour is even more apparent on the under surface, including the breast,
belly, and flanks. The shoulder of the wing and the under wing-coverts
of the Lesser Black-back are much darker, nearly dull sooty black, and
much less margined and marked with pale whitey brown than those of the
Herring Gull. The dark bands on the end of the tail-feathers of the
Lesser Black-back are broader and darker than in the Herring Gull: this
seems especially apparent on the two outer tail-feathers on each side;
besides this, there is a slight difference in the colour of the legs,
those of the Lesser Black-back showing a slight indication of the yellow
of maturity. I have noted these distinctions both from living specimens
of both species which I have kept, and noted their various changes from
time to time, and from skins of both: unfortunately the two skins of the
youngest birds I have are not quite of the same age, one being that of a
young Herring Gull, killed at the Needles in August,--the other a young
Lesser Black-back, killed in Guernsey in December; but I do not think
that this difference of time from August to December, the birds being of
the same year, makes much difference in the colour of the feathers; at
least this is my experience of live birds: it is not till the next moult
that more material distinctions begin to appear; after that there can be
no doubt as to the species. Two young Herring Gulls which I have, and
which I saw in the flesh at Couch's shop just after they had been shot,
seem to me worthy of some notice as showing the gradual change of
plumage in the Herring Gull; they were shot on the same day, and appear
to me to be one exactly a year older than the other; they were killed in
November, when both had clean moulted, and show examples of the second
and third moult. No. 1, the oldest, has the back nearly uniform grey,
and the rump and upper tail-coverts white, as in the adult. In No. 2,
the younger one, the grey feathers on the back were much mixed with the
brownish feathers of the young bird, and there are no absolutely white
feathers on the rump and tail-coverts, all of them being more or less
marked with brown. The tail in No. 2 has the brown on it collected in
large and nearly confluent blotches, whilst that of No. 1 is merely
freckled with brown. But perhaps the greatest difference is in the
primary quills; the first four primaries, however, are much alike, those
of No. 1, being a little darker and more distinctly coloured; in both
they are nearly of a uniform colour, only being slightly mottled on the
inner web towards the base; there is no white tip to either. In No. 1
the fifth primary has a distinct white tip; the sixth also has a decided
white tip, and is much whiter towards the base, the difference being
quite as perceptible on the outer as on the inner web. The seventh has a
small spot of brown towards the tip on the outer web, the rest of the
feather being almost uniform pale grey, with a slightly darker shade on
the outer web, and white at the tip; the eighth grey, with a broad
white tip. In No. 2 the fifth primary has no white tip; the sixth also
has no white tip, and not so much white towards the base; the seventh is
all brown, slightly mottled towards the base, and only a very slight
indication of a white tip; and the eighth is mottled throughout. I think
it worth while to mention these two birds, as I have their exact dates,
and the difference of a year between them agrees exactly with young
birds which I have taken in their first feathers and brought up tame. I
may also add, with regard to change of plumage owing to age, that very
old birds do not appear to get their heads so much streaked with brown
in the winter as younger though still adult birds, as a pair which I
caught in Sark when only flappers, and brought home in July, 1866, had
few or no brown streaks about their heads in the winter of 1877-8, and
in the winter of 1878-9 their heads are almost as white as in the
breeding-season. These birds had their first brood in 1873, and have
bred regularly every year since that time, and certainly have
considerably more white on their primary quills than when they first
assumed adult plumage and began to breed. Probably this increase of
white on the primaries as age increases, even after the
full-breeding-plumage is assumed, is always the case in the Herring
Gull, and also in both the Lesser and Greater Black-backs, thus
distinguishing very old birds from those which, though adult, have only
recently assumed the breeding-plumage. I know Mr. Howard Saunders is of
this opinion, certainly as far as Herring Gulls are concerned. Besides
the live ones, two skins I have, both of adult birds, as far as
breeding-plumage only is concerned, are evidently considerably older
than the other. No. 1, the youngest of these,--shot in Guernsey in
August, when just assuming winter plumage, the head being much streaked,
even then, with brown, showing that though adult it was not a very old
bird,--has the usual white tip on the first primary, below which the
whole feather is black on both webs, and below that a white spot on both
webs, for an inch; the white, however, much encroached upon on the outer
part of the outer web by a margin of black. In No. 2, probably the older
bird, the first primary has the white tip and the white spot running
into each other, thus making the tip of the feather for nearly two
inches white, with only a slight patch of black on the outer web. On the
second primary of No. 1 the white tip is present, but no white spot; but
on the same feather of No. 2 there is a white spot on the inner web,
about an inch from the white tip; this would, probably, in a still older
bird, become confluent with the white tip, as in the first primary. I
have not, however, a sufficiently old bird to follow out this for
certain. In No. 1, the older bird, the pale grey on the lower part of
the feathers also extends farther towards the tip, thus encroaching on
the black of the primaries from below as well as from above. I think
these examples are sufficient to show that the white does encroach on
the black of the primaries as the bird grows older, till at last, in
very old birds, there would not be much more than a bar of black between
the white tip and the rest of the feather; and this is very much the
case with the tame ones I caught in Sark in 1866, and which are
therefore, now in the winter of 1879, twelve and a half years old; but I
do not believe that at any age the black wholly disappears from the
primaries, leaving them white as in the Iceland and Glaucous Gulls. The
Herring Gull is an extremely voracious bird, eating nearly everything
that comes in its way, and rejecting the indigestible parts as Hawks do.
Mr. Couch, in the 'Zoologist' for 1874, mentions having taken a
Misseltoe Thrush from the throat of one; and I can quite believe it,
supposing it found the Thrush dead or floating half drowned on the
water. I have seen my tame ones catch and kill a nearly full-grown rat,
and bolt it whole; and young ducks, I am sorry to say, disappear down
their throats in no time, down and all. They are also great robbers of
eggs, no sort of egg coming amiss to them; Guillemots' eggs, especially,
they are very fond of; this may probably account for there being no
Guillemots breeding in Guernsey or Sark, and only a very few at
Alderney; in fact, Ortack being the only place in the Channel Islands in
which they do breed in anything like numbers.

Professor Ansted includes the Herring Gull in his list, but only marks
it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two, an old and a young
bird, in the Museum.

168. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. _Larus fuscus_, Linnaeus. French,
"Goeland a pieds jaunes."--The Lesser Black-backed Gull is common in the
Islands, remaining throughout the year and breeding in certain places.
None of these birds breed in Guernsey itself, or on the mainland of
Sark, and very few, if any, on Alderney. A few may be seen, from time to
time, wandering about all the Islands during the breeding-season; but
these are either immature birds or wanderers from their own
breeding-stations. About Sark a few pairs breed on Le Tas[33] and one or
two other outlying islets; their principal breeding-stations, however,
appear to be on the small rocky islands to the north of Herm, on all of
which, as far out as the Amfrocques, we found considerable numbers
breeding, or rather attempting to do so; for this summer, 1878, having
been generally fine, all these rocks were tolerably easily landed on,
and the fishermen had robbed the Lesser Black-backs to an extent which
threatens some day to exterminate them, in spite of the Guernsey Bird
Act, which professes to protect the eggs as well as the birds; but a far
better protection for these poor Black-backs is a roughish summer, when
landing on these islands is by no means safe or pleasant, and frequently
impossible. On Burhou, near Alderney, there are also a considerable
number of Lesser Black-backs breeding, though they fare quite as badly
from the Alderney and French fishermen as those on the Amfrocques and
other islands north of them do from the Guernsey fishermen. On all these
islands the nests of the Lesser Black-backs were placed amongst the
bracken, sea stock, thrift, &c, which grew amongst the rocks, and on the
shallow soil which had collected in places. When I was at Burhou in 1876
I found Lesser Black-backs breeding all over the Island, some of the
nests being placed on the low rocks, some amongst the bracken and
thrift; so thickly scattered amongst the bracken were the nests, that
one had to be very careful in walking for fear of treading on the nests
and breaking the eggs. On this Island there is an old deserted cottage,
sometimes used as a shelter by the lessees of the Island, who go over
there to shoot a few wretched rabbits which pick up a precarious
subsistence by feeding on the scanty herbage; on the roof of this
cottage several of the Lesser Black-backs perched themselves in a row
whilst I was looking about at the eggs, and kept up a most dismal
screaming at the top of their voices. The eggs, as is generally the case
with gulls, varied considerably both in ground colour and marking; some
were freckled all over with small spots--dark brown, purple, or black;
others had larger markings, principally collected at the larger end; the
ground colour was generally blue, green, or dull olive-green. None of
the Gulls had hatched when I was there on the 14th of June, though some
of the eggs were very hard set; and on the 29th of July I received two
young birds which had been taken on Burhou; these still had down on them
when I got them, and were then difficult to tell from young Herring
Gulls. The distinctions I have mentioned in my note of that bird were,
however, apparent, and the slight difference in the colour of the legs
is perhaps more easily seen in the live birds than in skins which have
been kept and faded into "Museum colour." It is some time, however,
before either bird assumes the proper colour, either of the legs or
bill, the change being very gradual. After the autumnal moult of 1878,
however, the dark feathers of the mantle almost entirely took the place
of the brownish feathers of the young birds; the quills, however, have
still (February, 1879) no white tips, and the tail-feathers are still
much mottled with brown. One Lesser Black-back, which I shot near the
Vale Church on the 17th of July, 1866, is perhaps worthy of note as
being in transition, and perhaps a rather abnormal state of change
considering the time of year at which it was shot; it was in a full
state of moult; the new feathers on the head, neck, tail-coverts, and
under parts are white; the tail also is white, except four old feathers,
two on each side not yet moulted, which are much mottled with brown. The
primary quills had not been moulted, and are quite those of the immature
bird, with no white tip whatever. All the new feathers of the back and
wing-coverts are the dark slate-grey of the adult, but the old worn
feathers are the brownish feathers of the young bird; these feathers are
much worn and faded, being a paler brown than is usual in young birds.
The legs and bill are also quite as much in a state of change as the
rest of the bird. Before finishing this notice of the Lesser Black-back
I think it is worth while to notice that it selects quite a different
sort of breeding-place to the Herring Gull; the nests 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 cannot quite tell at what age the
Common Gull begins to breed, for, although I have a pair which have laid
regularly for the last two years (they have not, however, hatched any
young, which perhaps is the fault of the Herring Gulls, whom I have
several times caught sucking their eggs), I do not know what their age
was when I first had them as I did the Herring Gulls from Sark and the
Lesser Black-backs from Burhou; I can only say when I first had them
they had the bills and legs blue; in fact they were in the state in
which they are the "Mouette a pieds bleus" of Temminck.

Professor Ansted includes the Common Gull in his list, and marks it as
occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is no specimen in the Museum.

170. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. _Larus marinus_, Linnaeus. French,
"Goeland a manteau noir."--The Great Black-backed Gull is by no means so
numerous in the Channel Islands as the Herring Gull and the Lesser
Black-back, and is here as elsewhere a rather solitary and roaming bird.
A few, however, remain about the Channel Islands, and breed in places
which suit them, such as Ortack, which I have before mentioned, as the
breeding-place of the Razorbill and Guillemot; and we found one nest on
one of the rocks to the north of Herm, but it had been robbed, as had
all the other Gulls' nests about there; we saw, however, the old birds
about, and Mr. Howard Saunders found one nest on the little Island of Le
Tas, close to Sark; it was quite on the top of the Island, and there
were young in it. I have one splendid adult bird, shot near the harbour
in Guernsey, in March: I should think this is rather an old bird, as,
although there are slight indications of winter plumage on the head, the
white tips of the primaries are very large, that of the first extending
fully two inches and a half, which is considerably more than that of a
fully adult bird I have from Lundy Island. The Great Black-backed Gull
is sufficiently common and well known to have a local name in
Guernsey-French (Hublot or Ublat), for which see 'Metivier's
Dictionary.'

Professor Ansted includes the Great Black-backed Gull in his list, and
marks it as only occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are three
specimens in the Museum--an adult bird, a young one, and a young one in
down, with the feathers just beginning to show. In the young bird the
head and neck were mottled and much like those of a young Herring Gull
in the same state; the back, thighs, and under parts do not appear so
much spotted as in the young Herring Gull; the feathers on the scapulars
and wing-coverts were just beginning to show two shades of brown, as in
the more mature state; the same may be said of the primary quills, which
were also just beginning to make their appearance; the tail, which was
only just beginning to show, was nearly black, margined with white.

171. BROWN-HEADED GULL. _Larus ridibundus_, Linnaeus. French, "Mouette
rieuse."[36] This pretty little Gull is a common autumn and winter
visitant to all the Islands, remaining on to the spring, but never
breeding in any of them, though a few young and non-breeding birds may
be seen about at all times of the summer, especially about the harbour.
Being a marsh-breeding Gull, and selecting low marshy islands situated
for the most part in inland fresh-water lakes and large pieces of water,
it is not to be wondered at that it does not breed in the Channel
Islands, where there are no places either suited to its requirements or
where it could find a sufficient supply of its customary food during the
breeding-season. Very soon after they have left their breeding-stations,
however, both old and young birds may be seen about the harbours and
bays of Guernsey and the other islands seeking for food, in which matter
they are not very particular, picking up any floating rubbish or
nastiness they may find in the harbour. The generality of specimens
occurring in the Channel Islands are in either winter or immature
plumage, very few having assumed the dark-coloured head which marks the
breeding plumage. This dark colour of the head, which is sometimes
assumed as early as the end of February, comes on very rapidly, not
being the effect of moult, but of a change of colour in the feathers
themselves, the dark colouring-matter gradually spreading over each
feather and supplanting the white of the winter plumage; a few new
feathers are also grown at this time to replace any that have been
accidentally shed--these come in the dark colour. The young birds in
their first feathers are nearly brown, but the grey feathers make their
appearance amongst the brown ones at an earlier stage than in most other
gulls. The primary quills, which are white in the centre with a margin
of black, vary also a good deal with age, the black margins growing
narrower and the white in places extending through the black margin to
the edge, so that in adult birds the black margins are not so complete
as in younger examples.

Professor Ansted mentions the Laughing Gull in his list, by which I
presume he means the present species, and marks it as only occurring in
Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum. As it is just possible
that the Mediterranean Black-headed Gull, _Larus melanocephalus_, may
occur in the Islands,--as it does so in France as far as Bordeaux, and
has once certainly extended its wanderings as far as the British
Islands,--it may be worth while to point out the principal distinctions.
In the adult bird the head of _L. melanocephalus_ in the breeding-season
is black, not brown as in _L. ridibundus_, and the first three primaries
are white with the exception of a narrow streak of black on the outer
web of the first, and not white with a black margin as in _L.
ridibundus_. In younger birds, however, the primaries are a little more
alike, but the first primary of _L. melanocephalus_ is black or nearly
so; in this state Mr. Howard Saunders has given plates of the first
three primaries of _L. melanocephalus_ and _L. ridibundus_, both being
from birds of the year shot about March, in his paper on the _Larinae_,
published in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for the year
1878.

172. LITTLE GULL. _Larus minutus_, Pallas. French, "Mouette pygmee."--I
have never met with this bird myself in the Channel Islands, nor have I
seen a Channel Island specimen, but Mr. Harvie Brown, writing to the
'Zoologist' from St. Peter's Port, Guernsey, under date January 25th,
says, "In the bird-stuffer's shop here I saw a Little Gull in the flesh,
which had been shot a few days ago."[37] Mr. Harvie Brown does not give
us any more information on the subject, and does not even say whether
the bird was a young bird or an adult in winter plumage; but probably it
was a young bird of the year in that sort of young Kittiwake or Tarrock
plumage in which it occasionally occurs on the south coast of Devon.

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