278 AVES NATATORES. [LARUS. 



lowish band : primaries black, without any white at the tips : tail grayish 

 white at the base, variegated with black ; the remaining portion deep 

 blackish brown, the feathers tipped with white : bill blackish, brown at 

 the base : legs dull yellow. (Egg.) Yellow stone-colour, thickly spotted 

 with ash-gray and two shades of brown : long. diam. two inches ten 

 lines; trans, diam. one inch eleven lines. 



Not uncommon on the northern coasts of Britain : less abundant south- 

 ward, though generally diffused. Like the last species, occasionally 

 observed inland on the banks of rivers. Breeds on rocks and steep 

 shores, and lays from two to four eggs. Food, fish, worms, and marine 

 rejectamenta. 



300. L. marinus, Linn. (Great Black-backed Gull.] 

 Bill yellow : legs pale flesh-colour : tarsus three inches : 

 wings reaching very little beyond the tail : shafts of the 

 primaries black : mantle (in the adult) grayish black. 



L. marinus, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. 11. p. 760. Great Black-backed 

 Gull, Mont. Orn. Diet. Selb. lllust. vol. n. p. 507. pi. 97. Black- 

 backed Gull, Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. n. p. 201. 



DIMENS. Entire length near thirty inches : length of the bill three 

 inches six lines : breadth, wings extended, five feet nine or ten inches. 

 MONT. 



DESCRIPT. Distinguished from the last species, which it closely 

 resembles, by its superior size, longer tarsus, and by the colour of the 

 legs. (Adult in winter.) Crown, region of the eyes, occiput and nape, 

 white, with longitudinal streaks of pale brown on the shafts of the 

 feathers: back, scapulars and wing-coverts, deep grayish black: fore- 

 head, throat, neck, all the under parts, rump and tail, pure white: 

 primaries black towards their extremities, all terminated by a large 

 white space ; secondaries and scapulars tipped with white : bill thick 

 and strong ; bright yellow ; the angle of the lower mandible blood-red, 

 enclosing a dusky spot not found in the last species: irides gamboge- 

 yellow : orbits red : legs livid white, or pale flesh-colour. {Summer 

 plumage.) The whole head and neck pure white, without any streaks of 

 brown: orbits orange: the rest as in winter. (Young of the year.) 

 Similar to that of the two last species, but always larger, with the bill 

 stronger. Head, and fore part of the neck, grayish white, with numerous 

 brown spots largest on the neck : upper plumage dusky brown, all the 

 feathers edged and tipped with reddish white ; wing-coverts marked with 

 transverse bars of this last colour : under parts dirty gray, with broad 

 zig-zag streaks and spots of brown : primaries dusky, sometimes finely 

 tipped with white: middle tail-feathers almost wholly dusky; lateral 

 feathers black towards their extremities; all edged and tipped with 

 whitish : bill black : irides and orbits brown : legs livid gray. During 

 the second year, the colours of the plumage undergo no material change : 

 only the gray on the head and under parts gradually gives place to a 

 purer white, while the brown spots decrease in size and number ; the 

 base and tip of the bill also assume a livid tinge. After the second 

 autumnal moult, the mantle of grayish black begins to show itself, 

 though still variegated with large irregular brown spots; the white on 

 the under parts is now nearly perfected ; the tail white, variegated in parts 

 with black ; the bill becomes livid yellow spotted with black ; and the 

 red spot, enclosing a black one, appears at the corner of the lower 



