290 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



in February 1848; other examples have occurred since in 

 the British Islands. On the American coast it is well 

 known. Mr. Audubon writes, that "after the 1st of April, 

 thousands of Bonapartian Gulls are seen gambolling over 

 the waters of Chesapeake Bay, and proceeding eastward, 

 keeping pace with the shoals of the fishes." We have not 

 met with any published description either of the nests, 

 eggs, or breeding habits of this species. 



THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. Larus marinus. 

 This very fine species is the largest of our British Gulls. 

 We possess a specimen in immature plumage which mea- 

 sured across the wings, before it was preserved and set up, 

 five feet four inches. It is by no means an uncommon 

 species around the shores of Britain, and extends in its dis- 

 tribution to Europe and North America, but is rare in high 

 latitudes. Among its breeding-stations in the British 

 Islands have been named "the Steepholmes, and Sandy 

 Islands, in the Bristol Channel; Souleskerry, in the Orkneys; 

 the Bass Islands, in the Firth of Forth ; and the marshes at 

 the mouth of the Thames." It selects, for building, small 

 islands, marshy places, stacks, and the most inaccessible 

 parts of the rocks. It is related as a fact, though whether 

 narrated as the result of personal observation or from the 



