36 BRITAIN S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 



stages of the immature plumage it resembles the Herring 

 Gull, but has always a darker mantle. The chicks in 

 down appear to be indistinguishable. 



This species usually nests in large and sometimes 

 enormous colonies, but it is more local in its distribution 

 round the British coasts than is the Herring Gull, as its 

 choice of nesting-sites is somewhat different. Ledges on 

 cliifs are not favoured, but steep grassy slopes and the 

 grass-covered tops of islets. Naturally, therefore, it is 

 absent from niuch of the south and east of England; but 

 it nests in Cornwall, Devon, Wales, and the Isle of Man, 

 and is abundant in Cumberland and on the Fame Islands. 

 Around the coasts of Scotland and Ireland, its haunts are 

 much more frequent. In the former countiy it is 

 especially numerous in Orkney and Shetland, and on the 

 parts of the west coast sheltered by the Hebrides. In 

 Ireland there are inland as well as coastal colonies. 



Except for the difference already remarked, the nesting 

 habits are similar to those of the Herring Gull, and the 

 eggs are not easy to distinguish, although perceptibly 

 smaller on an average. They are also more variable in 

 colour, a greenish type predominating. Clutches of four 

 seem more frequent than is the case with other gulls. 



Although the bird subsists chiefly on fish and small 

 crustaceans, little comes amiss to it, and in the nesting 

 season it becomes a bold robber of the eggs and young 

 of other birds. 



THE GREAT BLACK=BACKED GULL 



(Laru5 marinus). 



This fine species is practically a larger edition of the 

 Lesser Black-backed Gull. The legs, however, are flesh- 

 coloured, and the mantle is of an even dee}jer black. It is 



