LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, 
163 
the clowns among the sand. It makes a nest of grass, 
carelessly heaped up, and in it deposits three or four eggs, 
as represented in our Plate. 
The parent birds are very much attached to their young, 
and will defend them to the utmost in their power, and 
like the preceding species will not suffer any intrusion in 
their immediate neighbourhood, either from strangers, or 
immature birds of their own species until the nestlings 
are fully fledged. 
The food of the Lesser Black-backed Gull consists 
principally of fish and other marine animal food; it is 
also seen to frequent pastures or fresh ploughed ground 
near the sea, searching for worms and other insects, and 
their larvse. 
In confinement this bird thrives well, and becomes soon 
tame; feeding on worms, raw meat, and offal; here we 
must once more repeat the advice that a plentiful supply 
of clean water must be given to it, and its place of con¬ 
finement must be kept clean. 
The flight of this species is much the same as that .of 
the great black-backed gull, but, as a natural consequence, 
lighter, and its evolutions more swift, owing to its more 
slender shape and longer wings. It skims the surface of 
the waves so close that it is obliged to perform an undulating 
flight to keep up with the level of the Avaves, in order 
to avoid getting washed by them. On land its general 
flight is at an elevation of twenty or thirty feet, with ex¬ 
ception of the time of migration, during which its flight 
is very high. 
The Lesser Black-backed Gull measures twenty four 
inches in length ; the beak, from the forehead to the tip, 
one inch eleven lines ; the wing, from the carpus, seventeen 
inches, extending two inches beyond the tail. 
