308 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



BLACK-BACKED GULL, or COBB. 



(Larus marinus, Lix. Gmel. Syst. sp. 6. Lath. Ind. ii. sp. 6, 

 Temm. ii. p. 760. BoNAP. Synops. No. 303. Montagu, Diet. 

 Orn. p. 92. [ed. alt.] Le Goeland noir manteau, Buff. Ois. viii. p. 

 405. t. 31. PL Enlum. 990. [old.] and 266. [the young of the 

 year.] Black-Backed Gull, Lath. Syn. vi. p. 371. Penn. Brit. 

 Zool. p. 140. t. L. Arct. Zool. ii. p. 527. No. 451. Lewin's Brit. 

 Birds, vi. t. 208. Larus argentatoides ? Bonap, Syn. 299. Rich- 

 ard. North. Zool. ii. p. 417. Wagel Gull, Lath. Syn. vi. p. 375. 

 [young.]) 



Sp. Charact. — Mantle slate-black ; quills black at the point, tipped 

 with white ; the shafts black ; wings scarcely extending beyond 

 the tail ; tarsus about 3 inches. — Summer plumage, with the head 

 and neck pure white. Winter dress, with the head and neck 

 varied with brownish streaks. The young mottled and stained 

 with dull grey and brown. 



The Saddle-Back, or Black-Backed Gull, is a general 

 denizen of the whole northern hemisphere, and extends its 

 residence in America as far as Paraguay. At the approach 

 of winter it migrates not uncommonly as far as the sea 

 coasts of the Middle and extreme Southern States. If Mr. 

 Audubon be correct in considering L. argentatoides, as a 

 state of imperfect plumage of the present species, it breeds 

 as far north as the dreary coasts of Melville Peninsula. It 

 is also found in Greenland, Iceland, Lapmark, and the 

 White Sea. It is also abundant in the Orkneys and Hebri- 

 des in Scotland , but is a winter bird of passage on the 

 coasts of Holland, France and England. It rarely visits 

 the interior or fresh waters, and is but seldom seen as far 

 south as the Mediterranean. 



The Black-Backed Gull feeds ordinarily upon fish, both 

 dead and living, as well as on fry and carrion, sometimes 

 also on shell-fish, and like most of the tribe of larger Gulls, 



