GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 187 



Lavus varius. Briss. Orn. 6. 167. pi. 15. 



Wagellus Cornubiensum. Rail Syn. 130. A. 



Le Goeland varie ou Grisard. -C^. //«£• Nat. Ois. 8. 413. 



i%i PL Enl. 266. 

 Wagel Gull. Penn. Brit. Zool. 2. 247. A. Penn. Arct. Zool. 2. 



433. Lath. Gen. Syn. 6. 375. Lew. Brit. Birds, 6. pi. 209. 



?ffl/c. Syw. 1. pi. 111. Mont. Orn. Diet. 1. J3etu. J3nV. Birds, 



2. 216. Zi««. Trans, v. xii. 547. 



This is the largest of the Gulls, being nearly thirty 

 inches in length : in its winter plumage it has its beak 

 of a yellowish-white colour, with the angle of its lower 

 mandible bright red : the orbits are orange, and the 

 irides bright yellow : the top of its head, space round 

 the eyes, the occiput, and nape, white ; each feather 

 having a longitudinal stripe of bright brown down 

 its shaft : the forehead, throat, neck, all the under 

 parts of the body, and of the back, and the tail, of a 

 clear white : the top of the back, scapulars, and wings 

 of a deep black, apparently shaded with bluish : the 

 quills towards their tips are very deep black, and are 

 tipped with white ; the secondaries and scapulars are 

 also tipped with white : the legs are dull whitish, 

 The summer dress differs from the above in having 

 the top of the head, the space round the eyes, the 

 occiput, and nape of a pure white, without any brown 

 spots. The young of the first year have the head 

 and the fore part of the neck of a greyish-white, 

 thickly sprinkled with brown spots, especially on the 

 neck : the feathers on the upper part of the plumage 

 are dusky-brown in the middle, bordered and tipped 

 with reddish white ; which colour is formed into trans- 

 verse bands on the wing-coverts : the under parts are 

 of a dull griseous, striped with broad zigzags, and spots 



