96 BRITISH BIRDS 



pleasure of destroying life : it is a small bird, weighing 

 about a pound and from 15 to 18 inches in length, the 

 width of the outspread wings being about three feet. The 

 nest is placed on the turf or on a rock, and in the latter 

 situation consists of a large amount of grass and seaweed. 

 The bird is grey above and white below with black 

 primaries, the bill is grey with a yellow tip, and the 

 legs and feet are grey slate. The young are spotted with 

 grey and black. 



The Glaucous Gull. 



Not unlike the Kittiwake but much larger, weighing 

 between 3 and 4 pounds. It is light bluish-grey on 

 the upper and white on the lower surface of the body, 

 but whereas the primaries of the Kittiwake are black 

 with white tips, those of the Glaucous Gull are pure 

 white. 



The eggs are deposited on the ground among stones, 

 as well as on ledges of rocks above high water mark, and 

 incubation lasts four weeks. 



The young are a pale fawn or buff tinged with grey, and 

 the points of their folded wings barely reach to the end of 

 the tail, while in the adult they rather project beyond. 



They are not nearly of as common occurrence here as 

 other species, only appearing during very severe weather 

 which has driven them south from their natural habitat 

 on the shores of the Polar seas. 



The Greater Black-backed Gull. 



A very fine bird that breeds abundantly on the Scottish 

 islands and in other places in the north of Scotland, but 

 it is much less frequent in England. Except in regard 

 to size it exactly resembles the Lesser Black-backed Gull, 

 but it measures rather more than 2\ feet, with a wing 

 expanse of over 5 feet, and weighs about 5 pounds. The 

 female is somewhat less than the male. The young are 

 motded with greyish brown, and have light coloured legs 

 and feet. 



