228 



LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS — LONGIPENNES. 



i 



by the sea. It is exceedingly wary and difficult of approach. Its cry is loud and 

 hoarse. 



The flight of tlic mature bird of this species is tirin an(' steady, rather than long 

 protracted, and at times (^uite swift, and majestic whon oxi ciitcd in extended circles. 

 It usually proceeds in a dinct course, with easy, regulated flappings, and in calm 

 weather is fond of soaring to a great heiglit. It is noisy during the breeding-season, 

 but at all other times is comparatively silent. It swinvs lightly, but slowly; and it' 

 wounded may be readily overtaken, as it has no powr.r of diving. The eggs and tlic 

 young of this species are excellent eating ; but the old birds are tough, strong, and 

 iuii)alatable. 



Dr. buiulstrom, of Stockholm — as quoted by Mr. Dresser — states that this Gull 

 is regarded as a great pest in Sweden, and is destroyed wherever it can be approaelu'd, 

 which is not often. It is very destructive of the eggs and young of the Eider and 

 other wild Ducks, and destroys and devours quite large birds. 



Mr. N. W. Johnson describes a nest observed by him in Shetland as placed on the 

 ground, among the grass, large in size, and loosely put together. It covered a circle 

 of two and a half feet in diameter, was deeply hollowed, and the materials used in 

 its formation were dry tufts of grass, sheep's wool, heather-moss, and large feathers. 

 "When its nest is being robbed the great lilack-backed Gull sails over head, occa- 

 sionally making swoops at the intruder, and uttering loud, indignant croaks. 



Dr. Hryant, in his visit to Labrador in 1860, mentions having found it breeding 

 on almost all the grassy islands north of Eomaine, and in greater abundance as he 

 approached the Straits. He is quite suri' that it is by no means so rapacious and 

 tyrannical as it has been represented as being. On Greenlet Island — the abode 

 of a great number of Eider Ducks — he found twenty-two nests of this bird, one of 

 them not a foot from the nest of an Eider, both containing eggs. He did not sec ;i 

 single eggshell, or any appearance of eggs having been destroyed l)y the Gulls. This 

 species is found in greater or less numbers on all the islands where the Herring Gulls 

 breed, apparently on as good terms Avith them as with those of its own species. Dr. 

 Bryant saw no peculiarity in the flight of tliis species to distinguish it from other 

 Gulls. Its nest is oftener placed on the bare rock than is tliat of the Herring Gull. 

 and is not infrequently found singly on some small rocky island — which is never 

 the case with the other species. Tlie eggs are three in number, and are generally 

 easily distinguished from those of the Herring Gull by the color as well as the rA/r. 

 The spots are fewer and larger ; and this difference is almost a specific character. A 

 light clay is the prevailing ground-color, but it varies to a browiush gray or a brown- 

 isli white. The markings are the same in respect to color as in the other species of 

 this genus ; but in size are smaller, and more rounded and regular. 



Mr. Dresser describes the egg of this species as olive-brown in color, some- 

 times darker, and sometimes lighter, spotted, and blotched Avith dark broAvn. As 

 compared Avith the eggs of Lnnis fjlnums, it is darker, and has not the greenish 

 tinge Avhich usually pervades the eggs of the latter species. Dr. E. Iley, of Halle, 

 gives as the average size of twenty-three eggs of this species : 2.83 inches in length, 

 by 2.02 in breadth. The largest measured 3.21 inches by 2.05, and the' smallest 2.71 

 by 1.94. 



