LARIDA. 67 5 
THE LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
Larus Fuscus, Linneus. 
Though resident in the British Islands—except, perhaps, in the 
north—this species is far more local than the Herring-Gull in its 
distribution during the breeding-season, owing to its liking for 
grassy slopes or flat-topped and outlying islands, rather than for 
precipitous cliffs. In the south of England its nesting-places are 
almost confined to Devon and Cornwall; but several colonies exist 
in Wales and the Isle of Man; while on the ‘ mosses’ and ‘ flows’ 
of Cumberland it is so abundant that measures have to be taken to 
prevent its undue increase; and, though banished as much as 
possible from the moors of Northumberland, large numbers nest on 
the Farne Islands. In Scotland, closely-packed settlements may be 
found—far too plentifully for game-preservers—up to the northern- 
most Shetlands ; and especially along the western coast within the 
shelter of the Outer Hebrides, whereas the Herring-Gull predominates 
on the far side of that group. In Ireland, where the species is found 
