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evenings they may be seen returning to the loch, sailing majestically over the tree tops, or 

 hovering a minute or two above the banks of the brawling torrent to pick up some stranded 

 object. In the east of Scotland this species is also very common. During the months of 

 January and February I have seen as many as twenty of these gigantic Gulls in view at one time 

 at Dunbar, in East Lothian ; they usually continue their stately flight in a south-easterly 

 direction until they reach the first of the fish-curing stations along the coast. On being 

 attracted to these places by a plentiful supply of offal, they gather like a flock of Ravens ; and I 

 have known as many as six killed at one shot from a door of one of the smoking-houses." 

 Messrs. Feilden and Harvie Brown also write to us that "the Great Black-backed Gull is widely 

 distributed on the mainland of Scotland, and throughout its islands, but in the breeding-season 

 is especially abundant in Orkney and the Shetland Islands, the Outer Hebrides, and St. Kilda." 



It breeds in Greenland, but is by no means so common a bird there as the Glaucous Gull, 

 by which it is replaced in most parts of that country, as it is also, to some extent, in Iceland. 

 Professor Newton writes that, " according to Faber, it is a resident in Iceland, and not so common 

 as Larus glaucus ; but from my own observation I should say it was more abundant than that 

 bird, at least in the south-west, and in the breeding-season. It breeds on the inland waters, 

 which the other is not known to do." In the Fseroes, writes Captain Feilden, "it is resident and 

 not uncommon. I did not observe this bird nesting in colonies, as it does in the Shetlands and 

 in the Outer Hebrides. On the occasions that I detected this bird sitting on its eggs, the nest 

 was invariably placed in most inaccessible spots, sometimes on the peak of a lofty drang, sur- 

 rounded by the sea, always by itself. It is a great robber in the Fuglebergs, and is taxed as a 

 bird of prey." It has not been met with as far north as Spitzbergen, but is common in Scandi- 

 navia as far north as the North Cape. 



Mr. R. Collett writes that " this Gull ranges along the entire coast of Norway, but is more 

 commonly found breeding from the Trondhjems fiord northward to within the polar circle. It 

 breeds on the outer islands which fringe the coast, and occasionally by the fresh water close to 

 the coast, as at Norevand and Stavanger (Bahr), and in Ostfinmark. It is most numerous on- the 

 islands off Nordland and Finmarken. South of Stavanger it is most generally seen during 

 migration and in the winter ; but it breeds on the Saester islands, outside the Christiania fiord. 

 Nilsson writes that it is commoner in the Baltic than in the North Sea and the Cattegat, being 

 chiefly found on the outer islands. It breeds in North-east Skane, is, according to Wallengren, 

 rare (but according to Dr. Andre common) on Gottland, breeds commonly off the coast of Oster- 

 gothland, and is common all the year round off Gothenburg. At Tromso it is common, and 

 breeds there. It is occasionally observed on the large lakes, as, for instance, on the Wenern." 

 Dr. C. P. Sundstrom writes to us as follows: — "This Gull breeds, according to Nilsson, both on 

 the east and west coasts of Sweden ; but I have generally found it more numerous on the eastern 

 side; and on Gottland it is also far more numerous on the eastern than on the western side of 

 the island. Sometimes it is to be met with on the larger lakes, as on the Wenern ; but on the 

 coast it inhabits the outermost fringe of islands, and there deposits its three eggs almost on the 

 bare rocks, making scarcely any nest. Where there are no islands it takes up its quarters on a 

 large stone, or on the shore itself. I have taken the eggs of this species as early as May ; and 

 the young are usually fully able to fly by about the middle of July, though on the east coast 



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