LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 585 



utmost of his ability ; half flying-, half running, in all 

 directions, apparently for mere amusement. He is, 

 however, very tame, and will, when hungry, follow any of 

 the family about the garden uttering a peculiar cry, which 

 always means that he is quite ready for a meal. Indeed, 

 he has a most voracious appetite, and the capacity of his 

 throat is truly astonishing ; he has repeatedly swallowed, 

 quite whole, with beak, claws and feathers, various small 

 birds which had been shot and thrown to him. Mice, or other 

 small quadrupeds, appear equally to suit his taste ; and, 

 though he has no objection to butcher's meat, he seems 

 rather to prefer small animals, notwithstanding the hair, 

 feathers, &c., which sometimes give him not a little 

 trouble to dispose of satisfactorily. The way in which he 

 remedies this difficulty suggested itself the first time a bird 

 was given him ; I believe it was a skylark. After some 

 ineffectual efforts to swallow it, he paused for a moment ; 

 and then as if suddenly recollecting himself, he ran off full 

 speed to a pan of water, shook the bird about in it until 

 well soaked, and immediately gulped it down without 

 further trouble. Since that time, he invariably has re- 

 course to the same expedient in similar cases." 



The Lesser Black-backed Gull is a constant resident in 

 Ireland and Wales, on the coasts of Cornwall, Devon, 

 Dorset, Hampshire, Sussex, Suffolk, and Norfolk. On the 

 Northumberland coast, Mr. Hewitson observes, that these 

 birds " appear to prefer those islands which are the most 

 rocky, and upon which there is the least herbage, and 

 though they have their choice, very few of them deposit 

 their eggs upon the grass, and yet they rarely lay them 

 without making a tolerably thick nest for their reception ; 

 it is of grass, loosely bundled together in large pieces, and 

 placed in some slight depression or hollow of the rock. 



