

GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL 



GA F/J?. 



631 



LARIDrf. 



LARUS MARINUS, Linnaeus.* 

 THE GEEAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 

 Larus marinus. 



THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL, though seen throughout 

 the year on various parts of our coast, is not very numerous 

 as a species, and is frequently observed to be solitary, or in 

 pairs only. Dr. Turner, who wrote on British ornithology 

 more than three hundred years ago, calls this Gull a Cob ; 

 and by this name it is still known on the flat shores of 

 Kent and Essex, at the mouth of the Thames, where this 



* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 225 (1766). 



