HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



201 



harbours, &c. I remember seeing two or three 

 specimens of this gull standing in conjunction with 

 a small flock of herring gulls upon a sandbank in 

 one of these inlets of the sea ; while at a respectful 

 distance away two or three solitary black cor- 

 morants appeared preening their wings in the full 

 blaze of the evening sun. Several of its breeding- 

 places have also been discovered, as at Lundy 

 Island, Bass Rock, Hearn Head, &c, and the 

 feathered inhabitants of the Orkney and Shetland 

 Islands are not freed from the undesirable visits of 

 this imperious bird. It is not so frequently dis- 

 cerned in the Arctic regions as the Glaucous Gull, 

 as our Arctic voyagers do not often mention it in 



of reddish-white on .the wing-coverts). The bill is 

 whitish-yellow, except the angle of the lower 

 mandible, which is bright red. The iris is yellow, 

 with some brown markings intermingled. The feet 

 are dirty white. The- total length of the bird is 

 about 27 inches. 



Two principal points present themselves for 

 elucidation upon the contemplation of some of the 

 habits and peculiarities of this sea-bird. In the 

 first place, we may indulge in a little speculation 

 regarding the reason of the excessive vigilance and 

 shyness of the approach of man manifested by it. 

 While in the adult condition, fowlers find it very 

 difficult to shoot, owing to the impossibility of 



Fig. 112. Glaucous Gull (Larus glaucus). 



their journals, but it is tolerably common along the 

 seaboard of Labrador and Newfoundland. In 

 general anatomical conformation, size, and pre- 

 datory endowments, it so strongly resembles the 

 Glaucous Gull, as to suggest the notion that they 

 were descended from a common ancestor. The 

 specific characters of the Great Black-backed Gull 

 (Larus marinus) may be briefly indicated as fol- 

 lows : — The feathers of the crown of the head, about 

 the eyes, and the nape of the neck, are white, with 

 a longitudinal stripe of bright brown in the middle ; 

 the front, throat, neck, all the lower parts, back 

 and tail, are pure white ; top of the back, scapulars, 

 and the whole wing, are of a deep black shaded'with 

 bluish colour (in the young state there are .bands 



bringing it within range, although it has been 

 frequently remarked, that the immature bird is not 

 nearly so cautious. Now, we know that several 

 European naturalists who have visited desert islands 

 and other localities comparatively uninhabited by 

 man, have found the birds there exceedingly tame, 

 and apparently destitute of any fear of human 

 beings. Even the descendants of these birds, 

 although familiar with man, still exhibit very little 

 of this species of fear ; therein furnishing a contrast 

 to those which haunt localities where they have 

 been persecuted by the human race for ages past. 

 Physiologists, therefore, have arrived at the con- 

 clusion that this protracted experience of the dread 

 consequences of the presence of humanity gradu- 



