( 305 ) 

 THE GREAT BLACK BACKED GULL. 



LaRUS MARINUS,!,!^^. 

 PLATE CCXLI. Male. 



High in the thin keen air, far above the rugged crags of the desolate 

 shores of Labrador, proudly sails the tyrant Gull, floating along on almost 

 motionless wing, like an eagle in his calm and majestic flight. On widely 

 extended pinions, he moves in large circles, constantly eyeing the objects 

 below. Harsh and loud are his cries, and with no pleasant feeling do 

 they come on the winged multitudes below. Now onward he sweeps, 

 passes over each rocky bay, visits the little islands, and shoots off" towards 

 the mossy heaths, attracted perhaps by the notes of the Grous or some 

 other birds. As he flies over each estuary, lake, or pool, the breeding 

 birds prepare to defend their unfledged broods, or ensure their escape 

 from the powerful beak of their remorseless spoiler. Even the shoals of 

 the finny tribes sink deeper into the waters as he approaches ; the yovmg 

 birds become silent in their nests or seek for safety in the clefts of the 

 rocks ; the Guillemots and Gannets dread to look up, and the other Gulls, 

 unable to cope with the destroyer, give way as he advances. Far off" 

 among the I'olling billows, he spies the carcass of some monster of the deep, 

 and, on steady wing, glides off towards it. Alighting on the huge whale, 

 he throws upwards his head, opens his bill, and, louder and fiercer than 

 ever, sends his cries through the air. Leisurely he walks over the putrid 

 mass, and now, assured that all is safe, he tears, tugs, and swallows piece 

 after piece, vmtil he is crammed to the throat, when he lays himself down 

 surfeited and exhausted, to rest for a while in the feeble sheen of the north- 

 ern sun. Great, however, are the powers of his stomach, and ere long the 

 half-putrid food which vulture-like he has devoured, is digested. Like all 

 gluttons, he loves variety, and away he flies to some well-known isle, where 

 thousands of young birds or eggs are to be found. There, without re- 

 morse, he breaks the shells, swallows their contents, and begins leisurely 

 to devour the helpless young. Neither the cries of the parents, nor all 

 their attempts to drive the plunderer away, can induce him to desist until 

 he has again satisfied his ever-craving appetite. But although tyrannical, 

 the Great Gull is a coward, and meanly does he sneak off* when he sees 

 vor.. in, u 



