Larus canis
An autumn and winter visitor.
Although named the " Common " Gull, this species is by no means so numerous either as the Herring Gull, or the Kittiwake, and does not nest with us, going northwards in the spring to its breeding stations in Scotland, where it places its nest on the ground at the edges of lochs.
It is to be seen commonly on the sands and mud flats on the shore during the winter, and also very often on fields inland, and we have often been amused by watching the scrambles between the Rooks and the Common Gulls for worms when the birds have been closely following the plough. In the winter of 1886, we several times saw, and once or twice got very close to, a perfect albino Common Gull that, with other Gulls, daily visited a field near Stone Hall. The Common Gull was reported by Colonel Montagu to nest upon Ramsey Island, but the nests he describes are evidently those of the Kittiwakes.