GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 631 



GA VI^. LARID^F.. 







Larus maeinus, LinnaBus.* 



THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



Larus marinus. 



The Gkeat Black-backed Gull, though seen throughout 

 the year on various parts of our coast, is not very numerous 

 as a species, and is frequently observed to be solitary, or in 

 pairs only. Dr. Turner, who wrote on British ornithology 

 more than three hundred years ago, calls this (lull a Cob ; 

 and by this name it is still known on the flat shores of 

 Kent and Essex, at the mouth of the Thames, where this 



* Sjst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. -i-if) (1766). 



