Oavice 229 



coasts to the Isle of Man and the west of Scotland 

 generally. It also breeds Inland in Northumberland and 

 Cumberland, as weU as in Ireland, but such cases are 

 exceptional. On the east coast of England it is the 

 common Gull of the Parne Islands, and ranges thence 

 in smaller numbers to the north of Scotland. The nest 

 and eggs are indistinguishable from those of the Herring- 

 Gull, but are most commonly on flat islands or sloping 

 ground, and not on cliffs, for which reason the colonies 

 are somewhat local. A few exist even off Morocco, 

 in the Mediterranean and on the west of France, but 

 the chief summer haunts are northward, and extend 

 from the Pseroes and Scandinavia through the Baltic to 

 Russia. The British form has just been subspecificaUy 

 separated from the type. The mantle is black or very 

 dark grey; there is a little white on the wing-quills; 

 the bill is yellow with some red at the gape, as in the 

 Herring -Gull ; the legs are yellow; otherwise the bird 

 is white. 



The Great Black-backed Gull {L. marinus) is much 

 rarer than the preceding species, and is as often found 

 in single pairs as in colonies ; a few birds breed in the 

 south-west of England and in Wales, but by far the 

 greater part do so in the west and north of Scotland. 

 Mainland chffs are not uncommonly utilized, but on 

 the whole rocky stacks and outlying islands are preferred, 

 and in Scotland, the Lake District, and the Solway Firth 

 even marshes, often at considerable elevations. In 

 Ireland the bird is not rare. Abroad it ranges from 

 Baffin Bay and Labrador to Greenland, the Faeroes, 

 Iceland, and Europe north of the Baltic, as well as to 

 the Yenisei river, while it is known to breed in north- 

 western France. The two or three eggs are nearly 



