594 LARID^E. 



Professor Nilsson says this species is found on most of 

 the shores and islands of Sweden and Norway ; it is also 

 found at Iceland. A single specimen was seen by our 

 Arctic voyagers in Baffin's Bay, and the species was in- , 

 eluded by Fabricius in his Birds of Greenland. According 

 to Mr. Audubon the Great Black-backed Gull inhabits 

 North America. 



This species is observed on the coasts of Germany, Hol- 

 land, and France ; it is included by M. Savi, in his Birds 

 of Italy, and it was found by the Russian naturalists in the 

 vicinity of the Caspian Sea. 



The adult bird in summer has the bill pale yellow, the 

 inferior angle of the under mandible reddish-orange, the 

 whole bill very large and strong ; the irides straw yellow, 

 the edges of the eyelids orange ; head and neck pure white ; 

 back, wing-coverts, scapularies, secondaries, and tertials 

 lead grey, the feathers of the three latter series ending in 

 white ; primaries nearly black, the first and second quill- 

 feathers with a triangular white patch, forming the end of 

 each feather, the second quill-feather having a black spot 

 in the white ; all the others tipped with white, the inner 

 broad webs being lead-grey ; upper tail- coverts and tail- 

 feathers pure white ; chin, throat, breast, belly, and all the 

 under surface of the body and tail pure white; legs and feet 

 flesh-colour. In winter the crown of the head and the occiput 

 are slightly streaked with ash-grey. The whole length of 

 an adult male is thirty inches, and sometimes rather more ; 

 the wing, from the carpal joint to the end of the longest 

 quill-feather twenty inches. The female measures twenty- 

 seven inches, and her wing nineteen inches. 



The young birds in their stages to maturity resemble the 

 young of the Lesser Black-backed Gull, but are always 

 much larger, and their legs are paler in colour. 



