LARID.E. 75 



■ Concerning its nesting, Mr. Hewitson says that these birds "appear to prefer those 

 islands which are the most rocky, and upon which there is the least herbage, and, though 

 they have their choice, very few of them deposit their eggs upon the grass, and yet they 

 rarely lay them without making a tolerably thick nest for their reception ; it is of grass, 

 loosely bundled together in large pieces, and placed in some slight depression or hollow 

 of the rock. They lay two or three eggs, varying in their shades of colour from a dark 

 olive-brown to a light drab, thickly spotted with ash-grey, and two shades of brown ; the 

 length of the egg about two inches ten lines, by one inch and eleven lines in breadth." 



Larus dominicanus is a sort of southern representative of the Lesser Black-backed Gull. 

 Mr. Howard Saunders says it is found in New Zealand, Kerguelen Island, and the other 

 islands between it and Cape of Good Hope ; also the Falkland Islands, Patagonia, &c. He 

 says: — "The deep brown-hlack of the mantle, as distinct from the slate-hliiGk of L. fuscus, 

 and its strong bill and larger size will distinguish L. dominicanus from that species ; it is 

 smaller than L. marinus (Great Black-backed Gull), has a different pattern of primaries, 

 and has olivaceous-coloured legs and feet." 



Larus belcheri is also much like our Lesser Black-back, only stouter, and with a black 

 band on its tail. On an Australian voyage it might be met with off Cape Horn. The 

 immature bird has a dark hood. 



Larus scoresbii might also be met with oft Cape Horn. Mr. Saunders says it is a very 

 well-marked species, from its short, stout, crimson bill, and coarse legs and feet, the web of 

 the latter being a good deal incised. Like L. belclieri, it has a dark hood when immature. 



Great Black-backed Gull {Larus marinus). — This large Gull is fairly common along 

 the mouth of the Thames, where it remains all the year round. At Westgate-on-Sea, in the 

 month of July, they were about the only Gulls I saw, and very few of them. (Perhaps this 

 is because there are so few shell-fish on these shores.) They were all in immature plumage, 

 and called by the local fishermen "Grey Gulls" or "Cobs." This immature appearance 

 lasts three years, and in some places they are then called " Wagels." I shot one of these, 

 together with an adult bird, from a bathing-machine, at Aldborough, Suffolk, both of which 

 are now in my collection of British birds. In Mr, E. T. Booth's wonderful collection, 

 at Brighton, there are some adult specimens, represented attacking a Highland lamb. In 

 his Catalogue he says he has seen wounded mallard and wigeon fly from the attack of 

 these Gulls, and pitch close to the shooters for safety. Mr. Saunders gives their range 



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