662 GREAT BLACK-BACKED ClULL. 



The Great Black-backed Gull is resident in the Faroes and 

 Iceland, and is plentiful during the summer on the coasts of the 

 North Sea, Scandinavia, and Russia, ranging as far east as the delta of 

 the Petchora. Southward, no nesting-places are known on the Con- 

 tinent, except in the north-west of France ; though the bird occurs in 

 winter down to the Canaries, and is met with — usually in immature 

 plumage — on the Mediterranean and Black Seas, as well as inland 

 waters. Across the North Atlantic it is found breeding in Danish 

 Greenland up to 68° N. lat., and has been observed in Baffin Bay ; 

 while southward, it nests in Labrador and Maine, occurs on the great 

 lakes, and visits the Bermudas and Florida in winter. Both sides of 

 Bering Sea are frequented by L. schistisagus of Stejneger, a new and 

 little-known species which may be roughly described as intermediate 

 between L. mariuus and L. affiiiis ; but Mr. Seebohm has given me 

 a bird from Hakodadi — in the North Island of Japan — which I 

 identified some years ago as a Great Black-backed Gull : and even 

 now, in spite of the discovery of L. schistisagus so near, and the 

 apparent gap in the distribution of Z. Jiiarinus, I cannot refer this 

 example to any other species. Attention is specially called to the 

 range of this Gull, respecting which we are rather more than usually 

 ignorant. 



The nest is frequently on some isolated stack of rock or on an 

 islet in a loch ; and the eggs, laid in May, are never more than 3 

 and often only 2 in number, while I have several times known only i 

 to be laid ; their colour is stone-buff, boldly blotched with dark grey 

 and umber: average measurements 3 by 2"i in. Nothing in the 

 way of animal food comes amiss to this predacious species, whether 

 it be sickly or injured ewes, weakly lambs, young or wounded water- 

 fowl and game, eggs, or carrion. The majestic flight, large size, and 

 loud querulous note of this species render it easy of recognition on 

 the wing. 



In the adult the outer primary has a large white tip, though in 

 younger birds this ' mirror ' is crossed by a narrow black bar — as it 

 is in all examples on the 2nd ; while mature birds have a distinct grey 

 'wedge' on the inner webs, indicating that the affinities of this species 

 are with the Herring-Gulls, and not with the Lesser Black-backed 

 Gull. Bill yellow, red at the angle ; legs and feet flesh-colour. 

 Length of a male 30 in., wing 20 in. ; the female being smaller. The 

 young bird is paler in ground-colour than immature L. argenfatus, 

 and has more sharply defined mottlings. 



