676 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



throughout the year, the breeding-places are chiefly on the coast, 

 though some are inland. 



This Gull has not yet been obtained in (Greenland or Iceland, but 

 it is numerous during summer in the Fseroes, as well as along the 

 coast of Norway, whence it migrates southward, on the approach of 

 winter, as it does from the shores of the Baltic. Small colonies 

 exist on some of the Channel Islands and along the western sea- 

 board of France, as well as off Morocco and in the Mediterranean ; 

 while in winter the bird visits the Canaries, and West Africa down 

 to Bonny. Eastward it is found in Egypt, Nubia, the Red Sea 

 (where it is said to be resident), and on the Persian Gulf. North- 

 ward, it seems to be very rare in the Caspian, and hardly known to 

 the east of the line of the Dwina, though Mr. Popham obtained 

 an immature example at Golchika on the Yenesei. Its represen- 

 tative, however, from the Dwina eastward as far as the Yenesei 

 valley, is the Siberian River-Gull, L. affints, a species which has been 

 obtained (once) in South Greenland, and perhaps on Heligoland, 

 while it visits Western Asia and Equatorial Africa in winter. This 

 has a paler mantle than L. fiiscus, and is distinctly larger. 



The nest of the Lesser Black-backed Gull is made of grass, bits 

 of sea-weed &c., and the eggs, sometimes laid by the first week in 

 May, and 3 in number, are smaller on average than those of 

 the Herring-Gull and exhibit greater variation, with a tendency to 

 bluish-green in their ground-colour: measurements 2 "8 by i'9 in. 

 The food consists chiefly of fish and small crabs, the indigestible 

 portions of which are thrown up in large pellets, and Mr. T. E. Buckley 

 has found similar castings composed of the husks of grain ; the 

 bird is, however, omnivorous, and is very injurious to the eggs and 

 young of moorland-game and water-fowl. 



The adult in summer is white, except on the mantle, which varies 

 from slate-grey to black ; the three outer primaries are of a dusky 

 black which becomes paler towards the edges of the inner webs, 

 though there is no grey 'wedge'; a sub-apical white mirror exists on 

 the ist and — in mature birds — on the 2nd quill ; the legs and feet are 

 yellow, and the relative shortness of the latter is characteristic. In 

 winter the head and neck are streaked with dusky-brown. Length 

 of a male 22 in., wing i6-i6"5, tarsus 2'6, middle toe with claw 2*25 

 in.; the female is usually smaller. The young bird is similar to the 

 immature Herring-Gull, but the upper parts are darker, and the 

 primaries are nearly uniform black ; the lower part of the tail is crossed 

 by a black band, which gradually breaks up into mottlings and dis- 

 appears with increasing age : the legs and feet are at first light brown. 



