68 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



black. On this question Mr. Saunders writes: "The principal 

 characteristics of L. fuscus are the comparatively long tarsus 

 and the small delicate foot. The colours of the mantle and 

 wings are so variable in shade that the palest examples might 

 be mistaken for Larus affinis, but for the large size and coarser 

 foot of the latter. The blackest examples of L. fuscus are 

 found indifferently in the Faeroes, Norway, Egypt, and on the 

 Red Sea ; the lightest are, perhaps, from Scotland, and between 

 the extremes there is every gradation." The smaller size dis- 

 tinguishes the present species from the Greater Black-backed 

 or Herring-Gulls, and, when adult, the colour of the legs further 

 serves to separate it from the former species. 



Range in Great Britain. The present species is a resident 

 throughout our islands, but is somewhat local in its breeding- 

 haunts, though, where this Gull nests, it is generally in 

 such numbers that it requires to be kept in check. Mr. 

 Saunders observes : "In Scotland closely- packed settlements 

 may be found far too plentifully for game preservers up to 

 the northernmost Shetlands ; especially along the western 

 coast, within the shelter of the outer Hebrides, though on the 

 far side of that group, the Herring-Gull predominates." As 

 regards Ireland, Mr. Ussher's note is as follows : " Breeds, 

 often in large, numerous colonies, on the sea-cliffs and marine 

 islands of Donegal, Londonderry, Antrim, Dublin, Wexford, 

 Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Clare, Galway, Mayo, and Sligo. It 

 is the species of Gull most abundantly distributed on our 

 coasts in the breeding-season." 



Range outside the British Islands. " Northern Europe, from the 

 Dwina westward to the Faeroes (but not in Iceland), and 

 southward to the Mediterranean (breeding) ; in winter to the 

 Canaries, Senegal, Fantee, Bonny, Egypt, Nubia, the Red Sea 

 (said to be resident on the last), to Fao on the Persian Gulf. 

 Very rare in the North Caspian, and practically not found east 

 of the line of the Dwina, where the range of Larus affinis 

 begins" (Saunders, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxv. p. 253). Occasion- 

 ally it ranges farther eastward than the above-mentioned limits, 

 as, since the above was written, Mr. Saunders has identified a 

 specimen procured by Mr. H. L. Popham on the Yenesei as 

 L fuscus (Ibis, 1807, p. 106). 



