AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 241 



of time ; it is certainly remarkable that it should 



not thrive in circumstances that agree perfectly 

 with the Herring-Gull. 



208. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



Larus marinus. 



A few of these fine birds annually pass over our 

 district in early autumn bound for the south ; they 

 may of course be easily distinguished from all other 

 Gulls at a moderate distance by their size, but their 

 note, frequently repeated as they wing their way 

 on their travels, in single file, or a wedge-shaped, 

 Wild-Goose like formation, generally at an immense 

 height, is a still more infallible means of identi- 

 fication. These great Gulls, so far as my own 

 observation goes, appear to travel up the valley 

 of the Nen in parties of from five or six to twenty 

 individuals ; in the few instances in which 1 have 

 made out a solitary bird of this species in the 

 neighbourhood of Lilford, it has invariably been 

 an adult specimen, but in the early autumn it is 

 exceptional with us to see a Great Black-back near 

 enough to identify it by its plumage. In the winter 

 months, however, a few of this species may sometimes 

 be seen frequenting our meadows, especially after 

 heavy floods, with other Gulls ; in fact although 

 never to my knowledge numerous in our valley, I 

 consider it as much more common than the Lesser 

 Black-back. The note or cry of the present species 

 is a sharp hoarse bark, and has a peculiar character 

 about it that, as I have before stated, distinguishes 

 this from all other British Gulls. I have never met 



VOL. II. U 



