46 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



Greenland that fully a thousand pair nest on Bird Cliff in 

 Arsuk Fiord. A set of two eggs from Olfusa, Iceland, July 

 1, 1892, were fresh and were taken from a nest of seaweed and 

 moss placed on the shelf of a lofty cliff. These eggs are clay 

 colored with brown and black markings and measured 2.79 x 

 1.95 and 2.69 x 1.89. They are not different from the eggs 

 of the Herring Gull, and very probably a large series would 

 show the same variations in color and markings. The general 

 habits of this bird are very similar to the Herring Gull 

 according to Mr. Chamberlain. 



47. Larus marimis Linn. Great Black-backed Gull; 



Saddle-back. 



Plumage in summer adults : back and wings slaty black, some of the wing 

 feathers white tipped; otherwise white. Winter adult plumage : differs from 

 the summer plumage chiefly in the head and neck being streaked with 

 darker color. Immature plumage : above dusky, feathers more or less marked 

 or margined with buff ; white under parts more or less grayish suffused and 

 barred. Wing 17.50 to 19.00 ; culmen 2.45 ; tarsus 3.00. 



Geog. Dist. — Coast and islands of the north Atlantic, south in winter on 

 the American side to the Great Lakes, Virginia and more rarely to South 

 Carolina ; breeds from Bay of Fundy northward. 



County Records. — Cumberland ; common winter resident, (Brown, C. B. P., 

 p. 34). Hancock ; readily found in winter down the bay, (Knight). Knox; 

 winter visitor, (Rackliff). Sagadahoc; few in summer, plenty in winter, 

 (Spinney). Waldo ; readily found in winter about the bay, (Knight). 

 Washington; winter, (Boardman). 



As a very generally distributed winter bird along the coast, 

 this species may be readily found by careful watching almost 

 anywhere coastwise from September until well into April, while 

 a few sterile stragglers remain through the summer, Mr. 

 Boardman has stated that a few formerly nested about Grand 

 Menan, New Brunswick, but there seems to be no recent records 

 of its breeding south of the Bay of Fundy. It breeds com- 

 monly on many small islands along the coast of Labrador, 

 Norway, Scotland, etc., usually nesting from one to four pair 

 in a place but perhaps more often by solitary pairs. The nest 

 is composed of grass, seaweed and similar material and is quite 



