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ORD. III. GEN. III. GULL. 



SPE. II. BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



PI. 209. 



Larus marinus. Lin. Syji. I. p. 225. 



Le Goeland noir. Brif. Orn. VI. p. 158. 



This bird weighs near five pounds. The bill is very flout, curved at the 

 end, almoft four inches long, of a pale yellow colour, with a rich orange 

 fpot near the end of the lower mandible : eyes, yellow : eye-lids, bright orange : 

 head, neck, all the under parts, tail, and lower part of the back, white : wings, 

 and upper part of the back, dark lead-colour : the firft quill feathers, black, 

 with broad white tips : legs, yellow : webs, large, and darker. 



It inhabits every part of our fea-coafls, and breeds in rocks and cliffs, laying 

 two or three eggs, for which fee PI. XLV. Fig. 2. 



The herring gull we believe to be the young of this, and the wagel the fe- 

 male. I am fatisfied, that the diftinguifhing characters between the male and 

 female birds of this genus are, the males have all white tails ; the females, black 

 tips to their tails, a row of dark coloured feathers on the wing coverts, and 

 fometimes fpotted or mottled plumage. This duly confidered will reduce the 

 number of fpecies of this genus, and we fhall be able to find a female for each 

 bird. For, as they have hitherto been defcribed, there is no female to the 

 black-backed and kittiwake gulls, and no male to the wagel or tarrock known, 

 although thefe birds are common, and breed in every part of Great Britain. 



