GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 611 



THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL, though seen through- 

 out the year on various parts of our coast, is not numerous, 

 as a species, and is most frequently observed to be solitary, 

 or in pairs only. Dr. Turner, who wrote on British 

 ornithology nearly three hundred years ago, calls this Gull 

 a Cob ; and on the flat shores of Kent and Essex, at the 

 mouth of the Thames, where this bird remains all the year, 

 it is still called a Cob, which term, as mentioned in the 

 history of our Mute Swan, vol. iii. page 228, has reference 

 to its large size. 



About the estuary of the Thames, in the counties men- 

 tioned above, the Great Black-backed Gull is decidedly a 

 marsh breeder, both male and female assisting in the forma- 

 tion of their grassy nest, and driving all other birds, friends 

 or foes, from the vicinity of the chosen spot. The female 

 lays three eggs of large size, measuring three inches two 

 lines in length, by two inches and four lines in breadth ; 

 the general colour yellowish-brown, tinged with green, 

 sparingly spotted with slate grey and dark brown. The 

 food of this species is fish, and any animal matter ; it will 

 kill and eat small birds, and has been known to destroy 

 weak lambs ; it is bold as well as strong, and, if wounded, 

 will make a resolute defence against capture. Its flight 

 is powerful, and sustained without much apparent effort ; 

 it is also frequently seen swimming buoyantly on the water, 

 supported by the mass of feathers with which the body is 

 invested. 



The Great Black -backed Gull, according to Mr. Thomp- 

 son, is a resident species in Ireland ; it is found in Wales, 

 being observed by Montagu in considerable abundance on 

 the extensive sandy flats of the coast of Caermarthenshire ; 

 breeds on the steep holmes, and Lundy Island in the 

 Bristol Channel, and has been shot in winter as high up 

 the Severn as Worcester. It is found in Cornwall and in 



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