56 Great Black-Backed Gull. 
I2.—INSTANCE OF THE VORACITY AND PREDATORY HABITS 
OF THE GREAT BiacK-BACKED GuLL (Larus marinus.) 
By the President. eae WU 
[Read November tgth, 1879.] 
About ten days ago I bought an adult male of this species 
in Leadenhall Market, and on dissecting it I found the stomach 
very full and much distended. On opening it I found what 
appeared to be the whole of the bones, except those of the 
wings and the breast bone, of a Black-Headed Gull. (Larus 
ridibundus). The tarsi and feet, which were entire and 
uninjured, were attached to the bones of the legs, which were 
also entire and were attached to each other by their ligaments. 
As each leg and foot were together about eight inches in 
length, the feet were necessarily some distance out of the 
stomach. They were side by side, and projected into the 
cesophagus some considerable way. The remainder of the 
bones were very much broken, and all the bones, with the 
exception of the feet and tarsi, had been cleared of their 
muscles and sinews by the action of the gastric juice. As 
there was hardly a single feather in the stomach, it seems 
clear that this large gull, having in some way got hold of the 
black headed bird, picked it, or skinned it, and then tore it to 
pieces, and ate it clean up, swallowing the legs whole. The 
powerful hooked beak of the Great Black-Backed Gull seems to 
prove it to be of carnivorous habits. It has been known, 
occasionally, to kill and eat small birds, and it has even been 
said to attack young and weakly lambs, but I have never met 
with any record of its having attacked or devoured a bird so 
large as a Black-Headed Gull, which would be about 16 inches 
in length, and I think, therefore, that this instance ought to be 
recorded. I have brought the feet and the bones of the legs 
and the whole of the beak, which is very sharp, for you to see. 
These, especially having regard to the red colour of the feet— 
which, however, has much faded—seem sufficient to identify 
the species. 
