68i 



LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 

 Larus fuscus (L.). 



Resident in limited numbers, also winter visitant, common from 

 autumn to spring. Breeds sparingly in one or two localities. Im- 

 mature birds remain off the coast during the whole of the year. 



Probably the earliest published notice of this bird in 

 Yorkshire is contained in the list of birds in the Rev. J. 

 Graves's " History of Cleveland " (1808). 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote : — 



Larus fuscus. — Lesser Black-backed Gull — Met with rarely near 

 Leeds ; young birds not infrequently obtained about Sheffield ; F. O. 

 Morris reports it as common on the coast ; A. Strickland remarks that 

 "It is not an uncommon bird on this coast, but it does not breed on 

 any part of the coast here, though in many places it breeds in company 

 with the Herring Gull " 



This Gull is not so common on the Yorkshire coast as the 

 preceding species, but is fairly numerous in autumn and 

 winter when the young and old birds leave their nesting 

 quarters and assemble on the fishing grounds. In the Humber 

 district it used to be considered rare, though it has greatly 

 increased in numbers of late years. On the coast of the 

 North Riding it occurs most abundantly in spring when on 

 migration to its breeding stations further to the northward, 

 and it is not so frequently met with in winter. The strange 

 movements of large bodies of Gulls, referred to in the Common 

 and Herring Gulls, are to be remarked of this species also ; on 

 the north Yorkshire seaboard both the adult and immature 

 birds are often noticed during autumn and winter in north 

 and north-east gales, for days together, passing in immense 

 numbers to the north-west, and sometimes associated with 

 Herring Gulls ; such a passage took place on 20th-23rd 

 October 1884, at Redcar, and another on the 15th of the same 

 month in 1887. At Flamborough and Spurn, with south-- 

 west gales, they fly in a southerly direction ; many were 

 observed in September 1880, and from 25th to 28th September 

 1884 ; an estimate formed of the numbers passing a given 



