431 



rare in Greece ; and Mr. Robson writes to us that he has never known it to occur in Turkey, and 

 that he scarcely thinks it could have been procured there without his hearing of it. It has, 

 however, been known to visit the Danube ; for our friend the Hitter von Tschusi Schmidthofen 

 writes to us that " a few have been shot on the Danube and the Attersee in immature plumage ; 

 an adult male, shot near Sleyer, and a nearly adult male are in the St.-Florian Museum, and an 

 immature female in the Francisco-Carolinum Museum, at Linz. In the Tyrol it is rare during 

 the summer on the Garda Lake (fide Althammer) ; and it has been shot on the Wocheiner Lake, 

 in Krain (fide Freyer). In Mahren a mature and an immature male were shot in October 1852 

 on a mountain-stream, where they were feeding on trout. So far as we can ascertain, this Gull 

 has not been met with further eastward than Sarepta, nor south of the Mediterranean. To the 

 westward, however, its range extends to the Canaries, where, according to Bolle, it is very 

 common on the Island of Alegranza. To the north-west it ranges across the Atlantic to the 

 north-eastern portion of America." Audubon writes respecting its range that " few individuals 

 are to be found northward of the entrance into Baffin's Bay, and rarely are they met with 

 beyond this, as no mention is made of them by Dr. Richardson in the ' Fauna Boreali- Americana.' 

 Along our coast none breed further south than the eastern extremity of Maine. The western 

 shores of Labrador, along an extent of about three hundred miles, afford the stations to which 

 this species resorts during spring and summer; there it is abundant, and there it was that I 

 studied its habits. The furthest limits of the winter migrations of the young, so far as I have 

 observed, are the middle portions of the eastern coasts of the Floridas. While at St. Augustine, 

 in the winter of 1831, I saw several pairs keeping company with the young Brown Pelican." 



The Greater Black-backed Gull is certainly most predatory in its habits, and most justly 

 bears but a bad 'character amongst game-preservers ; for young water-fowl as well as the young of 

 land birds rarely come amiss to this bold robber when foraging for food, and many are the Ducks 

 which, when wounded by the wild-fowl gunner, fall to its share. Dr. Sundstrom, of Stockholm, 



o 



informs us that in Sweden, " on the island of Aland, where this Gull is common, it is justly 

 looked on as a pest, and destroyed whenever it can be approached, which is not so often, as it is 

 very wary when it finds itself followed. It daily devours large numbers of fish, and destroys the 

 eggs and young of the Eider and other Wild Ducks. 1 have seen it swallow small Eider Ducks, 

 and kill and eat larger ones. On Aland I saw one pursue an almost full-grown young bird of 

 the Red-breasted Mei'ganser (Mergus serrator), force it to dive again and again until it was tired 

 out, and then killed it. Any dead birds that are floating on the water or are on the ground are 

 soon picked up by this Gull ; and altogether I consider that it should be kept down in numbers 

 as much as possible, being a most destructive bird, especially to the Eider and other useful 

 species of water-fowl." Mr. R. Collett, of Christiania, also speaks of it as " an arrant robber, 

 not only destroying the eggs of the Eider and of other Ducks, but also killing and devouring 

 numbers of newly hatched young. It is especially injurious from the number of young Eiders it 

 destroys, both when they are on their way from their nest to the sea, and also when under the care 

 the mother. The latter tries hard to protect her young ; but the Gull tires her by repeated stoops 

 until it catches one of the young, which is then taken to a rock, torn in pieces, and devoured." 



This species breeds throughout Northern Europe, as far south as France and North 

 Germany, and makes a large nest of grass, in which it deposits two or three eggs. Mr. A. W. 



e2 



