GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 253 



America as far as Paraguay. At the approach of winter it 

 migrates not uncommonly as far as the sea-coasts of the Mid- 

 dle and extreme Southern States. If Mr. Audubon be correct 

 in considering L. argentatoides as a state of imperfect plu- 

 mage of the present species, it breeds as far north as the dreary 

 coasts of Melville Peninsula. It is also found in Greenland, 

 Iceland, Lapmark, and the White Sea. It is also abundant in 

 the Orkneys and Hebrides in Scotland, but is a winter bird of 

 passage on the coasts of Holland, France, and England. It 

 rarely visits the interior or fresh waters, and is but seldom seen 

 as far south as the Mediterranean. 



The Black-backed Gull feeds ordinarily upon fish, both dead 

 and living, as well as on fry and carrion, — sometimes also on 

 shell-fish , and, like most of the tribe of larger Gulls, it is 

 extremely ravenous and indiscriminate in its appetites when 

 pressed by hunger. It watches the bait of the fisherman, and 

 often robs the hook of its game. As Mr. Audubon justly and 

 strongly remarks, it is as much the tyrant of the sea-fowl as the 

 Eagle is of the land-birds. It is always on the watch to gratify 

 its insatiable appetite ; powerfully muscular in body and wing, 

 it commands without control over the inhabitants of the ocean 

 and its borders. Its flight is majestic, and, like the Raven, it 

 soars in wide circles to a great elevation, at which times its 

 loud and raucous cry or laughing bark of \ak, ^cak, ^cak is 

 often heard. Like the keen-eyed Eagle, it is extremely shy 

 and wary, most difficult of access, and rarely obtained but by 

 accident or stratagem. It is the particular enemy of the grace- 

 ful Eider, pouncing upon and devouring its young on every 

 occasion, and often kills considerable-sized Ducks. In pur- 

 suit of crabs or lobsters it plunges beneath the water ; has the 

 ingenuity to pick up a shell-fish, and carrying it high in the 

 air, drops it upon a rock to obtain its contents ; it catches 

 moles, rats, young hares ; gives chase to the Willow Grouse, 

 and sucks her eggs or devours her callow brood ; it is even so 

 indiscriminate in its ravenous and cannibal cravings as to devour 

 the eggs of its own species. In short, it has no mercy on any 

 object that can contribute in any way to allay the cravings of 



