THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 179 



may be naturally entertained on this subject, whichever of the two sup- 

 positions is adopted, the fact may yet be established and accounted for by 

 persons who may have better opportunities of watching them and studying 

 their habits. No individuals of Larus argentatus were, to my knowledge, 

 seen on that coast during the three months which I passed there, and the 

 fishermen told us that the "saddle-backs were the only large Gulls that ever 

 breed there." 



This bird must be of extraordinary longevity, as I have seen one that was 

 kept in a state of captivity more than thirty years. The following very 

 interesting account of the habits of a partially domesticated individual I owe 

 to my esteemed and learned friend Dr. Neill of Edinburgh. 



"In the course of the summer of 1S18, a "big scorie" was brought to me 

 by a Newhaven fisher-boy, who mentioned that it had been picked up at sea, 

 about the mouth of the Frith of Forth. The bird was not then fully fledged: 

 it was quite uninjured: it quickly learned to feed on potatoes and kitchen 

 refuse, along with some Ducks; and it soon became more familiar than they, 

 often peeping in at the kitchen window in hopes of getting a bit of fat meat, 

 which it relished highly. It used to follow my servant Peggy Oliver 

 about the doors, expanding its wings and vociferating for food. After two 

 moults I was agreeably surprised to find it assuming the dark plumage of the 

 back, and the shape and colour of the bill of the Larus marinus, or Great 

 Black-backed Gull; for I had hitherto regarded it as merely a large specimen 

 of the Lesser Black-backed (L.fuscus), a pair of which I then possessed, 

 but which had never allowed the new comer to associate with them. The 

 bird being perfectly tame, we did not take the precaution of keeping the 

 quills of one wing cut short, so as to prevent flight; indeed, as it was often 

 praised as a remarkably large and noble looking Sea-maw, we did not like to 

 disfigure it. In the winter of 1821-2, it got a companion in a cock-heron, 

 which had been wounded in Coldinghame Muir, brought to Edinburgh alive, 

 and kept for some weeks in a cellar in the old college, and then presented 

 to me by the late Mr. John Wilson, the janitor, — a person remarkably 

 distinguished for his attachment to natural history pursuits. This Heron 

 we succeeded in taming completely, and it still (1835) remains with me, 

 having the whole garden to range in, the trees to roost upon, and access to 

 the loch at pleasure, the loch being the boundary of my garden. Some 

 time in the spring of 1822, the large Gull was missing; and we ascertained 

 (in some way that has now escaped my memory) that it had not been stolen, 

 nor killed, as we at first supposed, but had taken flight, passing northwards 

 over the village, and had probably therefore gone to sea. Of course I gave 

 up all expectation of ever hearing more of it. It was not without surprise, 

 therefore, that on going home one day in the end of October of that year, I 



