96 
GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
throughout the year So, too, in Scotland, as in Sutherlandshire 
on the friths In Wales, in Caermarthenshire, near Tenby 
and Laugharne. 
In Orkney it is described by Dr Baikie and Mr Heddle 
as being pretty widely distributed. Also in Shetland 
These birds seldom advance tarther inland than the estuaries 
of the sea. 
It is curious that this Gull should be very shy, while the 
Wagel, the same bird, so called at a different and younger 
period of life, is not by any means so much so It would 
seem as if, like other kinds, they find ‘sero sed serio’ the 
danger of any but a distant acquaintance with man So 
again, as remarked above, the old ones go for the most part 
singly or in pairs, while the young assemble in companies; 
more than eight or ten are seldom seen together 
These are powerful birds, and at the same time bold and 
daring, and stout opponents They may be kept in confinement, 
and Mr Yarrell has furnished an account of one as sent to 
him by the Rev Robert Holdsworth, which was hatched 
successfully from an egg taken by the crew of H M Revenue 
Cutter Vigilant, and lived for many years quite tame, near 
Dartmouth. It swam in the river every day, and looked out 
for the fishermen returning from sea, who were in the habit 
of feeding it. 
The eggs are eaten and considered good by the inhabitants 
of the uorthern islands. 
These birds float aloft at times on almost motionless pinions, 
wheeling round and round in a chain of circles. Their ordi¬ 
nary flight is rather slow, but powerful, and they wing their 
way along without much seeming effort They sail buoyantly 
on the water, and swim well 
They feed on fish, and anything that is capable of being 
fed upon, and are said even to attack and destroy Jambs. 
One has been seen to drop on a Guillemot which had just 
been shot, and begin to devour it. Smaller birds are therefore, 
as might be hence supposed, not objected to. They drive 
away the Lesser Gulls from any prey they may have discovered. 
The note is a mere ( kac, kac, kac,’ uttered m a loud, rough, 
and harsh tone, capable of being heard at a great distance. 
It is uttered most in the spring-time. 
The Great Black-backed Gull builds chiefly in marshes and 
low undrained moors, as also in and on the cliffs and rocky 
islets of the sea-coast and of inland lakes, making its nest of 
