BLACK-BACKED GULL, OR COBB. 309 



it is extremely ravenous and indiscriminate in its appetites 

 when pressed by hunger. It watches the bait of the fisher- 

 man, and often robs the hook of its game. As Mr. Audu- 

 bon justly and strongly remarks, it is as much the tyrant of 

 the sea fowl as the eagle is of the land birds. It is always 

 on the v/atch to gratify its insatiable appetite, powerfully 

 muscular in body and wing, it commands without control 

 over the inhabitants of the ocean and its borders. Its flight 

 is majestic, and like the Raven it soars in wide circles to a 

 great elevation ; at which times its loud and raucous cry 

 or laughing bark of ^cak 'cak 'cak is often heard. Like the 

 keen eyed Eagle it is extremely shy and wary, most difficult 

 of access, and rarely obtained but by accident or stratagem. 

 It is the particular enemy of the graceful Eider, pouncing 

 upon and devouring its young on every occasion, and often 

 kills considerable sized Ducks. In pursuit of crabs or lob- 

 sters it plunges beneath the water; has the ingenuity to 

 pick up a shell-fish, and carrying it high in the air drops it 

 upon a rock to obtain its contents ; it catches moles, rats, 

 young hares ; gives chase to the Willow Grous, and sucks 

 her eggs, or devours her callow brood ; it is even so indis- 

 criminate in its ravenous and cannibal cravings as to devour 

 the eggs of its own species. In short it has no mercy on 

 any object that can contribute in any w^ay to allay the cra- 

 vings of its insatiable hunger and delight in carnage. 

 Though cowardly towards man, before whom it abandons 

 its young, its sway among the feathered tribes is so fierce, 

 that even the different species of Lestris, themselves daring 

 pirates, give way at its approach. 



In Europe the Saddle-Backed Gull breeds as far south as 

 the Lundy Islands in the Bristol channel, in England. Mr. 

 Audubon, who lately visited the dreary coast of Labrador, 

 found them breeding there on rocks, laying about 3 eggs, 

 large, and of a dirty dull brown, all over spotted and splash- 



