LARUS MARINtrS 375 



Gull is plentiful in winter, and far more numerous than the preceding 

 species. According to Mr. E. Cavendish Taylor it absolutely swarms 

 at Tangier and Gibraltar. 



In summer L.fuscus is to be found throughout Northern Europe, 

 as far north as the Faeroes and Scandinavia and eastwards as far as 

 the Dvina ; in winter in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic islands, 

 Africa, as far south as Bonny on the west coast, and eastwards in the 

 Red Sea, where it is said to be resident. It also occurs in the Caspian 

 Sea and Persian Gulf. 



In its habits the present species does not differ greatly from the 

 Herring-Gull, which it resembles also in being almost omnivorous 

 in its food and very predatory, preying on the eggs and young of other 

 birds. It is nearly always to be found in flocks, either large or small, 

 and is not as a rule particularly shy or wary. Its notes are not 

 unlike those of L. cachinnans, particularly the laughing or cackling 

 cry which, like that bird, it often utters. 



LARUS MARINUS, Linnaus. 

 GEEATER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



Larus marinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 225 (1766) ; Kocnig, J. f. 0. 1888, 

 p. 285 ; Saunders, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. sxv, p. 211. 



Dominicanus marinus, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 177 (1867) ; 

 Koenig J. f. 0. 1893, p. 91. 



Description — Adult male, spring, from Europe. 



Head, neck, tail and under parts white ; back, scapulars and upper wing- 

 coverts slate-black ; primaries slate-black, tipped with white, and with 

 subapical white spots, secondaries and greater wing-coverts slate-black, 

 tipped with white. 



Iris hazel, orbital ring vermilion ; bill yellow, with a reddish patch at 

 the angle of the lower mandible ; feet flesh colour. 



Total length 27'50 inches, wing 18'50, culmen 2-75, tarsus 3. 



Adult female similar to the male. 



In winter the head and neck are sUghtly streaked with brown. 



The young are mottled all over with white and brown. 



I include this large Gull among the birds of Timisia on the 

 authority of Blanc, according to whom the species has occasionally 



