204 
British Birds. 
THE LESSER 
BLACK-BACKED 
GULL. 
(Lanis fuscus.) 
This species has a black or greyish-black back, so that it resem- 
bles the Great Black-backed Gull in this respect, but it is a much 
smaller bird and has yellow, instead of flesh-coloured, feet. It is 
found in summer breeding locally throughout the British Islands, 
and at that season is also generally distributed on the coasts 
of Northern Europe, as far east as the Dwina and as far south as the Mediterranean, 
where it also breeds. In winter it visits West Africa, the Red Sea and the Persian 
Gulf. I have seen considerable migrations of this species off the coast of Norway, 
which it passes about the end of May, proceeding northward by day in flocks of 
from twenty to two hundred in number. The nest is like that of other Gulls, a 
rough structure of grass and sea-weed, and the eggs are three or four in number, 
of a darker tint than those of L.marinus : they measure about two-and-three-quarter 
inches in length. 
The Iceland Gull. 
The Lesser Black-backed Gull. 
THE 
HERRING-GULL. 
(Lanis argcntatus.) 
This beautiful Gull is nearly as large as L. marinus, but is 
recognised at once by its pearly-grey back. The bill is not 
nearly so large as that of the Great Black-backed Gull, and the 
dimensions will generally serve to identify the young birds in 
their brown plumage. It breeds in Northern Europe, west of the White Sea, and 
also in North America, and it is found nesting throughout Great Britain in places 
suited to its habits, but it is everywhere a marine species and does not nest inland. 
In winter it migrates south to the Mediterranean Sea and in America as far as 
the West Indies. Like the other big Gulls, the present species is a great robber of 
