HE BEING. GULL 325 



is often seen at a distance from the sea, roaming over the moors in 

 search of prey or carrion ; and it also feeds on insects and, like the 

 black-headed gull, sometimes follows the plough to pick up worms 

 and grubs. It nests on precipitous, rocky shores, usually making 

 choice of the summit or upper ledges. It also breeds on flat 

 islands, sometimes in company with the lesser black-backed gull, 

 which it resembles in size and general appearance. It usually 

 breeds in communities, but is not so strictly gregarious as most 

 gulls at this season. The nest, which is usually somewhat bulky, is 

 composed of seaweed and herbage, and lined with dry grass. Three 

 eggs are laid, stone-colour or light olive-brown, spotted and blotched 

 with dark umber. 



Lesser Black-backed Gull. 

 Lams fuscus. 



Bill, legs, and feet yellow ; summer plumage of the adult white, 

 except on the mantle, which varies from slate-grey to black. Length, 

 twenty-three inches. 



From its abundance, its large size which is nearly the same as 

 that of the herring-gull and its extremely conspicuous black-and- 

 white plumage at maturity, the lesser black-back is one of the most 

 familiar birds on our coasts. The young differ greatly from the 

 adults, having a slate-grey beak, flesh-coloured legs, and a general 

 brown plumage. The mature breeding colours, including yellow on 

 legs and bill, with a vermilion patch on the lower mandible, are 

 not perfect until the fourth year. Judging solely from this fact of 

 its slow growth to maturity, we may take it that the lesser black- 

 back lives long that its natural term, as in sonic accipitrine species, 

 probably exceeds a century. It is certainly the case that this gull is 

 able, not only to keep itself alive, but to keep up its numbers, notwith- 

 standing its large size and the dislike with which it is regarded on 

 account of its predacious habits. The unfeathered biped is ever anxious, 

 to keep all the killing and plundering in his own hands. The voice of 

 this gull is very powerful and far-reaching, and, when soaring with 

 its fellows, occasionally all the birds unite their voices in a chorus 

 of short and long cries, laughter-like in character, yet with something 

 solemn, and even desolate, in the sound, as of the sea. It is gre- 

 garious and social at all seasons, and breeds in galleries, where the 



