LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN GULLS AND TERNS. 77 



Hawaiian Islands, Hilo, March 13. One taken on Vancouver Island, 

 December 20. Its ranges and migration are otherwise unknown. 



LAEUS MARINUS Linnaeus. 

 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



HABITS. 



While cruising along the bleak and barren coasts of southern 

 Labrador I learned to know and admire this magnificent gull, as 

 we saw it sailing on its powerful wings high above the desolate 

 crags and rocky islets of that forbidding shore, its chosen summer 

 home. Its resemblance to the bald eagle was striking, as it soared 

 aloft and wheeled in great circles, showing its broad black back and 

 wings in sharp contrast with its snow-white head and tail, glistening 

 in the sunlight. It surely seemed to be a king among the gulls, a 

 merciless tyrant over its fellows, the largest and strongest of its tribe. 

 No. weaker gull dared to intrude upon its feudal domain; the islet 

 it had chosen for its home was deserted and shunned by other less 

 aggressive waterfowl, for no other nest was safe about the castle of 

 this robber baron, only the eider duck being strong enough to defend 

 its young. 



^Spring. — Early in May, when winter is breaking up on the south 

 coast of Labrador, the loud defiant cries of the great black-backed 

 gulls are heard as the birds return from their winter resorts to take 

 possession of their summer homes. Mating and nest building begin 

 soon after their arrival. They are not so gregarious here as other 

 gulls. We found no large breeding colonies on this coast, seldom 

 more than four or five pairs on an island, and often only one pair. 

 They seem to prefer solitude and isolation, where each pair can hold 

 undisputed sway over its own territory. We never found them 

 breeding on the mainland, but always on the bare tops of islands, 

 from, 1 which they could have a good outlook. They were never 

 taken by surprise and always left the island long before we reached 

 it, soaring high above us, screaming in protest. They were exceed- 

 ingly shy and would never come within gunshot unless outwitted by 

 strategy, which was no easy task. While walking along the shore 

 at the base of a cliff a black-backed gull flew out over the cliff unex- 

 pectedly, and I dropped him with a charge of heavy shot, but this 

 was the only specimen I was able to obtain. 



Nesting. — The first nest we found was on a little low islet with 

 sandy and rocky shores, over which a single pair of great black- 

 backed gulls were soaring, as if interested. The nest was conspicu* 

 ous enough when we landed, for it had been built over the base and 

 about the roots of a dead tree which had been washed up on the 



