GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 631 



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Larus maeinus, Linnseus,* 



THE GKEAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



Larus marinus. 



The Great Black-backed Gull, though seen throughout 

 the year on various parts of our coast, is uot very numerous 

 as a species, and is frequently observed to he solitary, or in 

 pairs only. Dr. Turner, who Avrote on British ornithology 

 more than three hundred years ago, calls this Gull a Cob ; 

 and by this name it is still known on the flat shores of 

 Kent and Essex, at the mouth of the Thames, where this 



* Sjst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 225 (1766). 



