LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
93 
It is indigenous in Ireland, but local; likewise in several 
parts of Scotland, both on the inland lakes and the sea-shore, 
in Dumfriesshire and other counties; and in Wales has been 
noticed in the Isle of Anglesea. It is also a constant 
inhabitant in Orkney, but in winter is the most plentiful; so 
too in Zetland. 
When engaged with their nest and young, these Gulls are 
very bold and daring, and will dash about and at an intruder 
in the most fearless, intrepid, and impetuous manner, not 
demeaning themselves to the ‘suggestio falsi,’—the expedient 
of birds of a more gentle nature: at other times they are 
far from shy. The old birds will not allow the younger ones 
to inhabit their breeding stations. They are capable of being 
kept in confinement, like the other species. They often follow 
the course of rivers a long way up. They associate with and 
build in the same places as the Herring Gulls. 
They fly well, skimming over the sea, and not high when 
over the land. 
They feed on fishes; also on insects, caterpillars and worms, 
which they search for several miles inland in the fields. One 
kept by Mr. Selby used to swallow young birds. 
The present species builds on bare and barren islands, both 
those of the sea-coast and those of inland lakes, as well as 
on the margin of the mainland. Steep and precipitous cliffs 
are used, as well as low marshy moors and sandy places a 
little way inland. 
The nest is a tolerable quantity of grass, with occasionally, 
# though rarely, some sea-weed placed loosely together in some 
slight hollow in the rock or the adjacent herbage, the latter 
least frequently. 
The eggs, which are two, three, or four in number, are of 
almost every variety of shade of green and brown, olive green, 
olive brown, and stone-colour, thickly spotted with grey, brown 
of two shades, and brownish black. 
The first or second week in June is the time of building. 
Male; weight, about thirty-six ounces, or sometimes more; 
length, one foot and eleven inches, to two feet; bill, yellow, 
the angle on the lower part red; iris, pale yellow; the eye¬ 
lids vermilion red. There is a dusky spot before the eye in 
winter. Head, crown, neck, and nape, white, in winter streaked 
with dusky brown; chin, throat, and breast, white; back, dark 
slate grey. 
The wings extend to the width of four feet and a half, 
