THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 187 



of the fishermen ; the quantity they could stow 

 away was something marvellous. They are not 

 particular as to the nature of their food, so long 

 as there is enough of it ; a rat or a bird, a fish or 

 a snail, or bread and milk, will suit almost equally 

 well. Tradition said that in the early days of 

 our oldest inhabitants the great black-backed gull 

 bred on some of the wild flats of the Kentish coast 

 and in a portion of the lonely salt-marshes of Essex. 

 I cannot speak confidently as to this, but, as I have 

 myself observed him in these localities, I think the 

 fact is more than probable. 



The shore-shooter regards him with unfavourable 

 eyes, for if he wounds a duck or pochard, and the 

 fowl drops out on the water, the cob will swoop 

 down, tear it to pieces and devour it. The rock 

 fowlers curse him most heartily, for he devours 

 both eggs and young. I do not know why they 

 should grudge him some of these, for there are 

 plenty for both him and them, and to spare. On 

 the grouse moors he is detested more than the 

 eagle himself. He not only eats the eggs and kills 

 the young there, like any raven, but the sitting 

 grouse herself is not safe from him. This is not 



