GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
253 
America as far as Paraguay. At the approach of winter it 
migrates not uncommonly as far as the sea-coasts of the Mid 
die and extreme Southern States. If Mr. Audubon be correct 
in considering L. argentatoides as a state of imperfect plu- 
mage of the present species, it breeds as far north as the dreary 
coasts of Melville Peninsula. It is also found in Greenland, 
Iceland, Lapmark, and the White Sea. It is also abundant in 
the Orkneys and Hebrides m Scotland, but is a winter bird of 
passage on the coasts of Holland, France, and England. It 
rarely visits the interior or fresh waters, and is but seldom seen 
as far south as the Mediterranean. 
The Black-backed Gull feeds ordinarily upon fish, both dead 
and living, as well as on fry and carrion, — sometimes also on 
shell-fish , and, like most of the tribe of larger Gulls, it is 
extremely ravenous and indiscriminate in its appetites when 
pressed by hunger. It watches the bait of the fisherman, and 
often robs the hook of its game. As Mr. Audubon justly and 
strongly remarks, it is as much the tyrant of the sea-fowl as the 
Eagle is of the land-birds. It is always on the watch to gratify 
its insatiable appetite , powerfully muscular in body and wing, 
it commands without control over the inhabitants of the ocean 
and its borders. Its flight is majestic, and, like the Raven, it 
soars in wide circles to a great elevation, at which times its 
loud and raucous cry or laughing bark of ’cak, \ak, 'cak is 
often heard. Like the keen-eyed Eagle, it is extremely shy 
and wary, most difficult of access, and rarely obtained but by 
accident or stratagem. It is the particular enemy of the grace- 
ful Eider, pouncing upon and devouring its young on every 
occasion, and often kills considerable-sized Ducks. In pur- 
suit of crabs or lobsters it plunges beneath the water ; has the 
ingenuity to pick up a shell-fish, and carrying it high in the 
air, drops it upon a rock to obtain its contents ; it catches 
moles, rats, young hares ; gives chase to the Willow Grouse, 
and sucks her eggs or devours her callow brood ; it is even so 
indiscriminate in its ravenous and cannibal cravings as to devour 
the eggs of its own species. In short, it has no mercy on any 
object that can contribute in any way to allay the cravings of 
