432 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



as the western side of Walney, since it is more indifferent to 

 bad weather than the Herring Gull. A good many examples 

 visit us at migration-time. Mr. E. Mann every year observes 

 a few pairs of these birds passing Allonby in an easterly 

 direction, in the spring of the year, and my own observations 

 corroborate his, since this Gull is more frequently heard crying 

 over Carlisle than any other of our Laridse. To take a single 

 example of this : on the 23d of February 1890 a great number 

 of birds passed over Carlisle between 8 and 12 p.m. Among 

 the various cries recognised, none were more emphatic than 

 those of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls. There was moonlight, 

 but heavy clouds and some mist made the night a dark one. 



GEEAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



Larus marinus, L. 



The Great Black-backed Gull is generally to be seen in full 

 dress upon the sands of the Solway Firth, usually alone but 

 sometimes in pairs \ a few immature birds haunt the tidal 

 waters of the Eden, the Esk, and Morecambe Bay. Its large 

 size and fine appearance often induce desultory shore-shooters 

 to compass its destruction. Though wary, it often flies away 

 to die of gunshot wounds, or its dead body is carried out to sea 

 by the ebbing tide. It has become much rarer since 1885, 

 when I estimated the number of breeding pairs that frequented 

 the Solway at fifteen ; the decrease can be fully accounted for. 

 Several have been trapped in order that their presence might 

 lend attractiveness to garden lawns. Others have been shot or 

 poisoned because they annoyed punt-gunners, like the Black- 

 headed Gulls, which frequently sail up the estuaries a short 

 distance in front of the punts, and give a warning to any flocks 

 of ducks that they may meet with. But though this gull has 

 never been numerous with us, and has lately decreased, it has 

 colonies in both the south and north of our faunal area. That 

 it bred sparingly on the fells near Eusland, a short distance 

 from Morecambe Bay, was first ascertained by Mr. C. F. 

 Archibald, who took eggs laid upon the open moor in 1889. 



