GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 323 



LARUS MARINUS. 

 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



(PLATE 52.) 



Lams niger, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 158 (1760, adult). 

 Larus varius, I Hss Q yi 167 / 1760 y 



r i JT \ / *j s 



Larus skua, > 



Larus marinus, Zmn. >Sf/s. .ZVa. i. p. 225 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



Naumann, Temminck, Dresser, Saunders, &c. 

 Larus maculatus, Bodd. Tabl. PI. Enl. p. 16 (1783). 

 Larus maximus, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. fyc. Brit. Mas. p. 40 (1816). 

 Lencus marinus (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 86 (1829). 

 Dominicanus marinus (Linn.), Bruch, Joum. Orn. 1853, p. 100. 



The Great Black -hacked Gull is a resident in the British Islands, hut in 

 the breeding-season it is principally confined to the vicinity of rocky 

 coasts or mountain-lakes. It is consequently much more common in 

 Scotland than in England, and is not known to breed on any of the low- 

 lying coasts of the eastern counties. 



The Great Black-backed Gull is an oceanic species, principally confined 

 to the North Atlantic. On the European coast its most southern breeding- 

 locality is North-west France, thence it breeds further north on the shores 

 of the German Ocean and the Baltic Sea, as far north as the North Cape, 

 and as far east as the delta of the Petchora. In winter it occasionally strays 

 as far as the Canary Islands, Madeira (a few probably remaining in the 

 latter locality to breed), and the basin of the Mediterranean. It breeds on 

 the Faroes, in Iceland, and in Greenland as far north as lat. 68. On the 

 American continent it breeds in Labrador, and possibly on the islands of 

 some of the great lakes south of the Arctic circle and east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, as it has occurred in Alaska. In winter it visits the Southern 

 States of America and the Bermudas ; but some of the Alaska birds appear 

 to winter on the coasts of Japan *. 



* It is possible that the Gulls from Alaska which have been identified as Great Black- 

 backed Gulls (Nelson, ' Cruise of the Corvvin,' p. 107) may prove to be 7/. schistisagus ; but 

 then- can be no doubt that the examples of L. marinus from Japan, in the Swinhoe 

 collection, have been correctly identified. American ornithologists have not yet examined 

 the Gulls of Alaska. Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (Water-Birds of N. Amer. ii. p. 234) 

 write of the Siberian Herring-Gull " Seebohm states that it is described as not being 

 uncommon at St. Michael's in Alaska, but this requires confirmation." My authorities are 

 Dall and Bannister (Trans. Chic. Ac. Sci. i. p. 305), where Larus borealis is said to be "not 

 uncommon at St. Michael's, and plenty at Plover Bay," which is partially confirmed by 

 Nelson (' Cruise of the Corwin,' p. 107), who remarks that " these birds were found to be 

 numerous at Plover Bay." 



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