264
THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
that the " Common Gull" they have met with was the Black-headed, which is cer-
tainly the common Gull of our coast.
Great Black-backed Gull : Larus malinus. Locally, "Cob "
and " Saddleback."
Common on the coast from autumn to spring, and formerly a resi-
dent, but it breeds with us no
longer.
Around Sudbury, King says (20)
that it is " not common." He adds,
" A few years since, a solitary in-
dividual remained upon our meadows
for a week or two, after a motley flock
of Gulls, driven here by stress of
weather, had retired. I frequently
watched it, and it occasionally allowed
me to approach pretty near."
At Harwich, Mr. Kerry says it is
common. He adds, " These birds
when in immature plumage, stay with
us the whole year, and my impression is that they do not breed before they have
attained their mature plumage."
It is " not rare round Colchester and Paglesham " (Laver). The Rev. J. C.
Atkinson says (36. 165): "It breeds, in some cases, on the marsh or salting-
spaces met with so abundantly on some of the southern and eastern shores."
Morris says (27a. vi. 186) they are common " in Kent and Essex along the banks
of the Thames." The Dictionary of the Thames says they " used formerly to
breed in the marshes at the mouth of the Thames." Yarrell says (2;. iii. 592),
" On the flat shores of Kent and Essex at the mouth of the Thames, where this
bird remains all the year, it is called a " Cob." Saunders (37), alluding to Yar-
rell's statements that it bred at the mouth of the Thames, correctly says "it has
long ceased to do so."
Adriatic Gull: Larus melanocephalus.
This has for some years been regarded as a doubtful British
bird, but may now be accepted as a very rare visitor.
Mr. Seebohm says (45. iii. p. 315) :—
" The only evidence for its admission into the British List is that of a specimen
purchased for the British Museum from Mr. Whitely, of Woolwich, who stated
that it was shot in January, 1866, near Barking Creek. An accidental change of
label, either at the British Museum or on Mr. Whitely's part, is the probable
explanation."
Its claims were also rejected by the compilers of the B.O.U. List, though
Harting (38. 175) and others accepted the record as authentic. In this they
were probably correct, for about the end of December, 1886, Mr. G. Smith, of
Yarmouth, received an adult in winter plumage which had been shot just before
on the Breydon Broad, as recorded by Mr. Howard Saunders (29. Feb. 5). There
seems, therefore, good reason for admitting it here as a British bird. The origi-
nal Essex specimen was a bird of the year, according to Mr. Howard Saunders
(Ibis, 1872, p. 79).