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Canaries, and states that he " saw pairs of this bird in May in Teneriffe, and in June in Madeira," 

 this being, we believe, the limit of its range to the south-west. To the eastward, however, it 

 extends far into Asia. Mr. W. T. Blanford has sent us for examination an immature bird of this 

 species obtained by him in Persia. Dr. Jerdon obtained one far inland, near Jaulna, in the 

 Deccan ; and Messrs. Dybowski and Parvex record it as observed during migration at Darasun, 

 in Dauria. Mr. Swinhoe also, writing on the birds of China, records it as " a common winter 

 Gull on the South-China coast." The Lesser Black-backed Gull has been said to have occurred 

 in America ; but our friend Dr. Elliott Coues doubts the authenticity of these statements, and in 

 reply to an inquiry on the subject writes that " this species has been attributed to North America 

 by several writers. Nuttall, for instance, says ' Middle and Northern States to Jamaica '! (Man. 

 Orn. 1st ed. ii. p. 302). Peabody has it in his Report on the Birds of Massachusetts ; and 

 Linsley in his list of Connecticut birds (Am. Journ. Sci. xliv. 1843, p. 271). But I have no 

 faith whatever in any of these citations, believing them to be either the result of an entire 

 misapprehension, or else to rest upon some small L. marinus, or dark-coloured L. argentatus. 

 Nobody has heard of L. fuscus in this country for the last thirty years ; and I must decline to 

 reconcile this fact with these early citations, by assuming any recent change in the bird's distri- 

 bution. I would emphatically repeat what I have already said (Pr. Essex Inst. v. 1868, p. 307), 

 ' There is ( no good evidence of the occurrence of this European species on our coasts.'" 



In its habits the Lesser Black-backed Gull much resembles its near ally L. marinus, but it 

 is a lighter and more active-looking bird. Macgillivray, an excellent observer of the habits of 

 birds, says that "the flight of this bird is peculiarly elegant, resembling, however, that of the 

 Greater Black-backed Gull, but more easy and buoyant, with the wings considerably curved. Its 

 ordinary cry is loud, mellow, and somewhat plaintive, and, when a number join in emitting it, 

 which they sometimes do when assembled for repose on an unfrequented beach or island, may 

 be heard at a great distance ; and it is then far from being unpleasant. It also emits occasionally 

 a cackling or laughing cry, more mellow than that of the species above named. It searches for 

 food on the open sea, in estuaries, on the beaches, and frequently on the land, sometimes flying 

 to a great distance from the coast. Small fishes, Crustacea, echini, shell-fish, land-mollusca, and 

 earth-worms are its habitual food ; but it also eats of stranded fishes, and devours young birds. 

 When shoals of young herrings are in the bays, creeks, or estuaries, it may often be seen in great 

 numbers, intermingled with other Gulls ; but when reposing, whether on the sea or on land, it 

 generally keeps separate in small flocks. In winter few individuals remain in the most northern 

 parts, the greater number advancing southward. They are usually not uncommon at that season 

 in the Firths of Tay, Forth, and Clyde, where very few, however, remain to breed. On the other 

 hand, they are represented as numerous at all seasons on the coasts of Northumberland, the 

 south-eastern and southern counties of England, and along the western coast. It is remarkable 

 how much the habits of a species may vary. This, for example, is represented in some districts as 

 breeding chiefly in marshy plains, or on islands in lakes, in others exclusively on maritime cliffs. 

 Although I have robbed many Gull's nests, I have never been attacked, or even menaced, by any 

 of the larger species. Other individuals, however, have experienced a different treatment. Thus 

 Mr. Hewitson relates of the present species, ' after they have begun to sit, they become very bold 

 in the defence of their eggs. Whilst amongst them I was amused with one, near the nest of which 



