BRITISH BIRDS. 197 



The Great Black-backed Gull is common in the 

 northern parts of Europe, the rocky isles of the 

 North Sea, and in Greenland. Though it was 

 known to Fabricius, it must be very rare in the 

 higher parts of Baffin's Bay, Captain Sabine 

 having seen only one specimen there. They are 

 but thinly scattered on the coasts of England, 

 where they, however, sometimes remain to breed 

 on the highest cliffs which overhang the sea. In 

 their native haunts, their favourite breeding places 

 are high inaccessible islets, covered with long 

 coarse tufty grass. Their eggs are of a round 

 shape, of a dark olive, thinly marked with dusky 

 spots, and quite black at the thicker end. Their 

 cry of kncj kac, kac, quickly repeated, is roughly 

 hoarse and disagreeable. 



