604 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE, 



kept in Shetland for upwards of twenty-two years 

 that anything that was eatable seemed to suit her 

 appetite, even oatmeal porridge was not refused, and 

 fish, raw meat, birds and mice never seemed to come 

 amiss. This tame Gull used regularly to make a 

 nest and sit upon it for some short time, but had not 

 the same amiable propensit}^ for hatching other birds' 

 eggs and bringing up the young ones as the Buzzard 

 mentioned at p. 25, for if eggs were given her she 

 invariably ate them. 



In a wild state the food of the Lesser Blackbackecl 

 Gull consists principally of fish ; but, according to 

 Yarrell, both the young and old birds go inland to 

 search moist pastures or recently-ploughed fields for 

 worms, insects and their grubs. It also steals the 

 eggs of the Guillemot, Razorbill and other birds in- 

 habiting the rocks : probably this propensity in the 

 various sorts of Gulls is one reason why the other 

 rock birds usually have their breeding station a little 

 separate from them : I have never seen them actually 

 mixed together, even at Lundy, where space is limited, 

 and the various species of birds very numerous. 



The plumage of this Gull varies much, according 

 to the age of the bird. In the young bird the bill is 

 black; irides dark brown; the head and neck streaked 

 pale brown and white ; the back and scapulars are 

 dullish white, much barred and mottled with brown ; 

 the wing-coverts and tertials have more brown in 

 them ; the primary quills are dusky brown, some of 



