302 LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



white; the bill is strong, yellow when fresh, slightly 

 tinted with greenish, the mandible on its angle 

 orange-red, and having in this an irregular dark 

 spot upon its cutting edge, which crosses and ap- 

 pears on the maxilla also about half-way between 

 the nostrils and the tip ; the legs and feet are livid, 

 or of a yellowish grey tinted with pink. The larger 

 size, colour of the legs, and dark spot on the bill, 

 easily distinguishes this species from the next. 



THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



Lcurus fuscus, LINNAEUS. 



PLATE XXVI. 



Larus fiiscus, lAtw Goeland a pied jaunes, Temm. Lesser 

 Black-backed, or Yellow-legged Gull of British authors. 



THIS handsome species was long confounded with 

 the last, from the great similarity of its plumage to 

 a casual observer. It is at once, however, distin- 

 guished by its lesser size and yellow legs, and it 

 varies considerably in its habits being much less 

 maritime. It is a bird very generally distributed 

 around our shores as well .as those of Ireland, but 

 both this and the last sometimes vary their breed- 



