188 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



of brown : the middle tail-feathers are dusky ; the la- 

 teral ones are black towards the tip ; and all of them 

 are edged and tipped with whitish : the quills are dusky, 

 with a small white tip : the beak is deep black : the 

 irides and circle of the eyes are brown : the legs are 

 livid. After the first year the feathers on the upper 

 parts are deeply bordered with white, which colour 

 predominates on all the under parts, and the spots 

 and lines thereon become fainter : the head also be- 

 comes of a pure white, and the point of the beak is 

 tinged with a livid hue. In the next moult the 

 shoulders become duskv-black, varied with irregular 

 spots of brown and grey ; the white on the plumage 

 becomes of a purer tinge, and is slightly spotted with 

 a few clear spots ; the tail is ornamented with black 

 variations; and the beak receives its red base, with 

 its black middle, and livid yellow tip, spotted with 

 black. At the third moult, in the autumn, the plu- 

 mage is complete. The young vary in having all the 

 plumage of a whitish-grey, more or less spotted with 

 brown ; and in having the quills whitish. 



This species prefers the sea-shores, rather than the 

 ocean ; it is abundant in all the northern parts of 

 Europe, the coasts of Greenland, and of those of 

 the Orcades and Hebridal Islands, and of the north of 

 England : but on the latter they are in less abun- 

 dance : they breed on the highest cliffs which over- 

 hang the sea : their ea;2;s are three or four in number, 

 of a dark-olive colour, marked at their thicker end 

 with several large and small spots of dusky-brown. 

 They feed on the smaller fishes and their fry, carrion, 

 and sometimes on the inhabitants of bivalve shells. 



