THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 173 



nests or seek for safety in the clefts of the rocks; the Guillemots and Gan- 

 nets dread to look up, and the other Gulls, unable to cope with the destroyer, 

 give way as he advances. Far off among the rolling billows, he spies the 

 carcass of some monster of tbe deep, and, on steady wing, glides off towards 

 it. Alighting on the huge whale, he throws upwards his head, opens his bill, 

 and, louder and fiercer than ever, sends his cries through the air. Leisurely 

 he walks over the putrid mass, and now, assured that all is safe, he tears, 

 tugs, and swallows piece after piece, until he is crammed to the throat, when 

 he lays himself down surfeited and exhausted, to rest for awhile in the feeble 

 sheen of the northern sun. Great, however, are the powers of his stomach, 

 and ere long the half-putrid food which, vulture-like, he has devoured, is 

 digested. Like all gluttons, he loves variety, and away he flies to some 

 well-known isle, where thousands of young birds or eggs are to be found. 

 There, without remorse, he breaks the shells, swallows their contents, and 

 begins leisurely to devour the helpless young. Neither the cries of the 

 parents, nor all their attempts to drive the plunderer away, can induce him 

 to desist until he has again satisfied his ever-craving appetite. But although 

 tyrannical, the Great Gull is a coward, and meanly does he sneak off when 

 he sees the Skua fly up, which, smaller as it is, yet evinces a thoughtless 

 intrepidity, that strikes the ravenous and merciless bird with terror. 



If we compare this species with some other of its tribe, and mark its 

 great size, its powerful flight, and its robust constitution, we cannot 1 ' but 

 wonder to find its range so limited during the breeding season. Few indi- 

 viduals are to be found northward of the entrance into Baffin's Ba}^, 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 farther 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 farthest limits of the winter migrations of the young, so far as I have 

 observed, are the middle portions of the eastern coast of the Floridas. 

 While at St. Augustine, in the winter of 1831, I saw several pairs keeping 

 company with the young Brown Pelican, more as a matter of interest than 

 of friendship, as they frequently chased them as if to force them to disgorge 

 a portion of their earnings, acting much in the same manner as the Lestris 

 does toward the smaller Gulls, but without any effect. They were extremely 

 shy, alighted only on the outer edges of the outer sand-bars, and could not 

 be approached, as they regularly walked off before my party the moment 

 any of us moved towards them, until reaching the last projecting point, they 

 flew off, and never stopped while in sight. At what period they left that 



