LARID^. 



659 



*-is^^ — 





THE LESSER BLACIv-BACKEU GULL. 



Larus fuscus, Linnceus. 



Though resident all the year in the British Islands, except, 

 perhaps, in the north, this species is more local than the Herring- 

 Gull in its distribution during the breeding season, owing to its 

 liking for grassy slopes, flat-topped islands or stacks of rock, rather 

 than for precipitous cliffs. In the south of England its nesting- 

 places are confined to Devon and Cornwall ; colonies exist in Wales 

 and the Isle of Man ; on the ' mosses ' and ' flows ' of Cumberland 

 it is so abundant that measures have to be taken to prevent its 

 undue increase ; and, though banished as much as possible from the 

 moors of Northumberland, large numbers nest on the Fame Islands. 

 In Scotland closely-packed settlements may be found — far too 

 plentifully for game-preservers —up to the northernmost Shetlands ; 

 especially along the western coast, within the shelter of the Outer 

 Hebrides, though on the far side of that group the Herring-Gull 



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