345 



LARID.E. 



LARID^E. 



in low situations, such as meadows in the neighbourhood of the sea 

 or actuaries, among the herbage on the ground. The eggs, which vary 

 much, are generally of a deepish olive, sprinkled with large brown 

 and blackish spots. 



They inhabit rivers, salt lakes, and fresh-waters ; in winter only on 

 the shores of the sea ; a bird of passage in Germany and France ; 

 very abundant in Holland at all seasons of the year. (Temminck.) 

 Mr. Selby says that in Britain they are very regular in their migratory 

 movements (for such their departure to and from the sea-coast may 

 properly be termed), and that their return in spring may, in some 

 cases, be calculated upon almost to a day. 



Selby speaks of the eggs of this bird as being well flavoured, free 

 from fishy taste, and, when boiled hard, as not easily distinguishable 

 from those of the Lapwing, for which they are sometimes substituted. 



The young, he adds, are also eaten, although not held in such high 

 estimation as they formerly were, when great numbers were annually 

 taken and fattened for the table, and when the Gullery (or summer 

 resort of the species) produced a revenue of from 501. to SOI. to the 

 proprietor. These are the See-Guiles of the ancient great festivals. In 

 the Household Book of the fifth Earl of Northumberland, begun in 

 1512, these See-Guiles are among the delicacies for the principal feasts 

 or bin lordship's own ' mees,' and they are charged at one penny or 

 three-halfpence each. 



In Willughby's time the price was higher. He mentions a colony 

 of these birds " which yearly build and breed at Norbury in Stafford- 

 shire, in an island in the middle of a great pool in the grounds of Mr. 

 Skrimshew, distant at least thirty miles from the sea. About the 

 beginning of March hither they come ; about the end of April they 

 build. They lay three, four, or five eggs, of a dirty green colour 

 spotted with dark brown, two inches long, of an ounce and a half 

 weight, blunter at one end. The first down of the young is ash- 

 coloured and spotted with black ; the first feathers on the back after 

 they are fledged are black. When the young are almost come to their 

 full growth, those entrusted by the lord of the soil drive them from 

 off the island through the pool into nets set on the banks to take 

 them. When they have taken them they feed them with the entrails 

 of beasts, and when they are fat sell them for fourpence or fivepence 

 a piece. They yearly take about one thousand two hundred young 

 ones, whence may be computed what profit the lord makes of them. 

 About the end of July they all fly away and leave the island." 



Dr. Plott, in his ' Staffordshire," adds to the history of the birds 

 that bred in Pewit Pool, in the parish above mentioned, that they 

 would breed on no other land than that of the proprietor of that place, 

 and that on the death of the owner they deserted the pool for three 

 years, but only retired to another estate belonging to the next heir. 

 The doctor was fond of the marvellous. 



Laria. Bill of mean length, strong, straight, cultrated, the upper 

 mandible having the tip incurved ; symphysis of the upper mandible 

 strongly angulated, and ascending thence to the point. Nostrils 

 placed in the middle of the bill, lateral, oblong, narrow, and pervious. 

 Tongue pointed, with the extreme tip cloven. Wings long, acuminated. 

 Tail even, or slightly forked. Legs placed near the centre of the body, 

 of mean length and strength, with the lower part of the tibia! naked. 

 Feet of four toes, three before and one behind ; the three in front 

 united by a membrane ; the hind one short and free. (Gould.) 



L. marinia, Linn. ; Gotland Noir Manteau of the French ; Great 

 Black-Backed Gull, Great Black and White Gull of Willughby (the 

 provincial name is Cobb); Qwylan rudd a gywn (Wagel) of the 

 Welih. 



Great Black-Eacked Gull (Lana morintw). Adult,'ln winter plumage, 



Perfect Winter Plumage of Old Birds. Summit of the head, region 

 of the eyes, occiput, and nape, white, but all the feathers marked on 

 their middle with a longitudinal stripe of bright brown ; front, throat, 

 neck, all the lower parts, back and tail, pure white ; top of the back, 

 scapulars, anil the whole wing of a deep black, shaded with bluish ; 

 quills towards the end of a deep black, all terminated with a large 

 white spnce ; secondary quills and scapulars terminated with white ; 

 bill whitish yellow, angle of the lower mandible bright red; naked 



border round the eyes red ; iris brilliant yellow marbled with brown ; 

 feet dirty white. Length 26 or 27, inches; females 24 to 25 inches. 

 (Temminck.) Willughby's specimen measured, " from tip to tip of 

 the wings distended," 67 inches. 



M. Temminck observes (1820) that in this state the species had 

 never been described. Willughby and Montagu however had each 

 described one (the latter author in his ' Dictionary,' 1802) almost in 

 the perfect state, and it is now beautifully figured in Mr. Gould's great 

 work on ' The Birds of Europe." 



Summer or Nuptial Plumage of Old Birds. Summit of the head, 

 region of the eyes, occiput and nape, pure white without any brown ; 

 naked border round the eyes orange ; rest of the plumage as in winter. 

 In this state it 13 Larus marinus, Liun. ; Le Goeland Noir Manteau, 

 Buffon; Mantel Meve, Bechst. ; Black-Backed Gull, Latham, &c. 

 (Temminck.) 



Young of the Year, and those One Year Old. At this period the 

 bird is Larus ntpvius, Linn. ; L. marinus junior, Latham ; Le Goeland 

 Varie" ou Grisard, Buffon ;' and Wagel Gull, Latham. (Temminck.) 



The Young of the Year have the head and the front of the neck 

 grayish-white covered with numerous brown spots, which are largest 

 on the neck ; the feathers of the upper parts are blackish-brown in the 

 middle, all bordered and terminated with reddish-white, which colour 

 forms transverse bands on the coverts of the wings ; lower parts of a 

 dirty gray, striped with large zigzags and brown spots ; feathers of 

 the middle of the tail more black than white, the lateral ones black 

 towards the end, and all bordered and terminated with whitish ; 

 quills blackish, a little white on the point ; bill deep black ; iris and 

 naked circle brown ; feet livid brown. 



After the First Year to the Age of Two Years. All these colours 

 change no otherwise than that the blackish-brown and yellow of the 

 middle of the feathers occupy gradually less extent, giving place to 

 pure white, which then surrounds all the feathers; the white begins 

 to predominate over the gray iu the lower parts, which have gradually 

 less of the brown spots ; the head becomes pure white, and the point 

 and base of the bill assume a livid tint. 



At two years, on the autumnal moult, the mantle is defined ; it is 

 then blackish, varied with irregular brown and gray spots ; the white 

 becomes pure, and only sprinkled with a few spots ; the tail is per- 

 vaded with black marblings of varied forms ; and the bill assumes the 

 red spot with black in the middle,* the rest of that organ being livid 

 white speckled with black. 



At the third autumnal moult the plumage is perfect 



The young vary accidentally in having all the plumage grayish- 

 white, with deeper spots, and spots very feebly indicated ; the quills 

 whitish. Sick individuals put on these appearances, as well as the 

 greater part of those which are kept in captivity. (Temminck.) 



This species is very abundant in the Orcades and Hebrides ; common 

 in its double passage on the coasts of Holland, France, and England ; 

 lives in the north ; never or very accidentally found in the interior 

 or on fresh waters ; rather rare in the Mediterranean. (Temminck.) 

 Common in many parts of the north of Europe, but does not appear 

 to extend, at least iu any considerable numbers, to very high latitudes, 

 as Captain Sabine, in his ' Memoir of Greenland Birds,' states that it 

 was only once seen in Baffin's Bay, and Sir John Richardson never 

 mentions it. Met with, but by no means plentifully, upon most of 

 our coasts, usually alone or in pairs, and rarely in a flock of more than 

 eight or ten together. (Selby.) America (near Philadelphia), not 

 very rare. (Prince C. L. Bonaparte.) United States. (Audubon.) 



Fish, living or dead, fry, carrion, &c., form the food of this species, 

 according to Temminck, who adds that it rarely feeds also on bivalve 

 shell-Ssh. " It is," says Selby, " of very voracious appetite, and preys 

 upon all kinds of animal substance that may happen to be cast on 

 shore. It also keeps a close watch upon the lesser gulls, whom it 

 drives from any food they may have discovered, appropriating the 

 whole to itself." Montagu notices the damage it does to fishermen 

 by severing and devouring the largest fish from their hooks, if left dry 

 by the ebbing of the tide. Flight slow, but buoyant. Cry strong 

 and hoarse, to be heard from a great distance when the bird is on 

 wing, and most frequent in the spring and breeding season. Very 

 wary ; keeping by the shores of the sea, which it only quits accident- 

 ally. Nest ou the rocks, Temminck says, in the regions of the Arctic 

 Circle. Captain Sir James Ross however, in his ' Last ExpeditiSn of 

 Sir John Ross,' does not mention it. Eggs three or four, very deep 

 olive-green, with great and small blackish-brown spots. (Temminck.) 

 Like those of the Herring and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls in colour 

 and markings, but are larger. (Selby.) The author last quoted says 

 that its breeding-stations in Britain are the Steep-Holmes and Luudy 

 Islands in the Bristol Channel, Souliskerry in the Orkneys, the Bass 

 Rock in the Frith of Forth, and one or two other stations upon the 

 Scottish coast. Mr. Gould says that it also breeds in the marshes at 

 the mouth of the Thames, making a nest on the ground of reeds, 

 rushes, and flag-leaves. 



* The individual described by Willughby as the Great Dlack-nnd-White Gull 

 (Larus ingetit marinut Cliuii), and hereinbefore noticed, seems to have been in 

 this stage of plumage, or rather more varied. Willughby took ' a plaise entire' 

 out of its stomach. He also mentions another (which he supposes was a young 

 one) with the head and neck particoloured of black and white, and the back 

 and wings paler. 



