LARID. 677 
THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
Larus marinus, Linneus. 
As a breeding-species this Gull is by no means plentiful in 
England ; but birds in various stages of immaturity may be seen on 
our coasts at all seasons, while adults form a large proportion of 
the flocks of “corpse-eaters” which resort to the shores of the 
Humber in autumn. At the present day a few only nest on the 
‘cliffs of Dorsetshire, Lundy Island, Cornwall, Scilly, Wales, and, 
perhaps, on the Isle of Man; while some find breeding-places in 
the Lake district, and inhabit the ‘flows’ in the neighbourhood of 
the Solway. On the east of England no breeding-place is known. 
In many parts of Scotland this rapacious Gull is abundant, especially 
on the deeply indented coasts and islands of the north and west, 
and above all in the Outer Hebrides, where colonies of twenty to 
twenty-five pairs may be found ; it also resorts, there and elsewhere, 
to islets in mountain lakes, and to lofty hill-tops. In Ireland it is widely 
distributed on the rocky coasts, especially in the north and west. 
The Great Black-backed Gull is resident in Iceland and the Feeroes, 
