536 Laridcc. 



laugh, and when its ringing shriek is heard, it is the signal of 

 alarm to other birds, and puts them on the alert. Sir R Payne- 

 Gallwey says this species takes five years to obtain maturity 

 of plumage. The specific name argentatus, 'silvery white/ 

 sufficiently describes its light-coloured dress, as do the French 

 Goeland cendre, the German Weissgraue Meve, and the 

 Swedish Grd Trut ; but, as with ourselves, the Italians mark 

 its fishing propensities, and call it Pescatore. The Rev. A. P. 

 Morres has often seen these birds passing overhead in the 

 neighbourhood of Salisbury. Air. Baker has often found them 

 near Mere. I am informed by Mr. Stratton, of Gore Cross Farm, 

 in the parish of Market Lavington, that he has killed this bird 

 on his own land on the downs ; and that he has often seen them 

 passing over his fields, and wondered whither they were going, 

 for they always flew in the same direction, viz., to the north, so. 

 he conjectured they were making for Gloucester and the Severn. 

 On January 23rd, 1885, an immature specimen, in the plumage 

 of Bewick's ' Wagel,' was sent me for identification by the Rev. 

 T. A. Preston. It was shot close to Marl borough; and. Lord 

 Methuen tells me there is a stuffed specimen at Corsham Court, 

 which was shot on the waters there. 



229. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL (Larus marinus). 



This, the largest of all the British Gulls, is sparingly scattered 

 round the coast of Britain, but on the mud-flats on the shores of 

 the Wash in Norfolk I have seen it in some numbers, and a 

 giant indeed it looks amongst its congeners, as big and master- 

 ful, and conspicuous among the smaller Gulls, as the Crane when 

 stalking amidst the smaller waders on the sand-banks of the 

 Nile. Moreover, it is a bully and a robber, overpowering any 

 weaker animal, fish, flesh, or fowl, within its reach, and purloining 

 eggs whenever it can find them : for it is of voracious appetite, 

 to which nothing comes amiss, and has well been designated 

 ' the Scavenger of the Shore.' Its flight, though easy and 

 buoyant, and even majestic, is decidedly slow, as are all the 

 movements of this overgrown species. Its note is very loud and 



