GHEAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. i)7 



dry grass, sea-weeds, and sticks. Many resort to the same 

 place. The nest is of large size. Both male and femalt 

 assist in its construction. 



The eggs are three in number. They are considered very 

 good to eat, and great numbers are taken for the purpose, 

 the first and second clutch being removed, and the bird then 

 laying a third time. Their colour is yellowish brown, with 

 a tinge of green, a little spotted with bluish grey and dark 

 brown. 



Male; weight, nearly five pounds; length, two feet six 

 inches or over. The bill, which is large and very strong, is 

 pale yellow, the lower angle of the under mandible orange 

 red, with a dusky black spot in the middle on each side; the 

 tooth of the upper bill dusky in winter. Iris, pale yellow; 

 the eyelids bright red; there is a dark mark before the eye 

 in winter. Head, crown, neck, and nape, white; in winter 

 the former streaked with a little grey; chin, throat, and breast, 

 white; back, dark leaden grey. 



The wings reach in extent to the width of five feet nine 

 inches; greater and lesser wing coverts, leaden grey; primaries, 

 nearly black, the first and second ending with a triangular- 

 shaped white patch, longest in the former, the second with 

 a black spot in the white near the tip, the third with a short 

 white tip, the fourth with a short white tip, succeeded by 

 black, and this followed by a narrow clouded bar of greyish 

 white, the others tipped with white, the inner webs being 

 leaden grey ; secondaries, leaden grey, ending in white, forming 

 a bar across the wing; tertiaries, leaden grey, also ending in 

 white; greater and lesser under wing coverts, white. Tail, 

 white; upper tail coverts, white; under tail coverts, white. 

 Legs and toes, pale yellowish red. 



Female; length, two feet three or four inches. 



In the young the bill is black; iris, dark blue; head, crown, 

 neck, and nape, dull white, mixed with greyish brown; chin, 

 throat, and breast, also dull white, but paler in the markings. 

 Back, greyish brown, the feathers dark in the middle, the 

 edges greyish white. Greater and lesser wing coverts, mottled 

 and spotted with pale greyish brown arid greyish white; 

 primaries, black, greater and lesser under wing coverts, dull 

 greyish white, with some pale brown marks. The tail has 

 the middle feathers black, tipped with white, the side feathers 

 mixed with black and white. Legs and toes, dull greyish 

 white, with a red tint. 



VOL. vm, II 



