THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
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mandible, and the edges of both mandibles at the base of the same colour. 
Edges of eyelids red, iris yellow. Eeet flesh-coloured, claws yellowish. 
The head, neck, lower parts, rump, and tail, are pure white ; the back and 
wings light greyish-blue ; the edges of the wing, and a large portion toward 
•the end of all the quills, white. 
Length to end of tail 30 inches ; bill along the ridge 2 t 9 j, along the edge 
; wing from flexure 19i : tail 8f ; tarsus 2}£ ; hind toe f-f , its claw -A- ; 
second toe ff, its claw ; middle toe 2 r \, its claw f|- ; outer toe 2J, its 
claw tV 
The Female, which is somewhat less, resembles the male. 
Young in full plumage. 
The bill is yellow to a little beyond the nostrils, black at the end ; the 
feet flesh-coloured, the claws dusky. The iris brown. The general colour 
of the plumage is very. pale yellowish-brown ; the feathers of the back with 
a large dusky spot towards the end ; the quills and tail-feathers barred 
with the same. 
THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
Larus marinus, Linn. 
PLATE CCCCL.— Male. 
High in the thin keen air, far above the rugged crags of the desolate 
shores of Labrador, proudly sails the tyrant Gull, floating along on almost 
motionless wing, like an Eagle in his calm and majestic flight. On widely 
extended pinions, he moves in large circles, constantly eyeing the objects 
below. Harsh and loud are his cries, and with no pleasant feeling do they 
come on the winged multitudes below. Now onward he sweeps, passes over 
each rocky bay, visits the little islands' and shoots off towards the mossy 
heaths, attracted perhaps by the notes of the Grouse or some other birds. 
As he flies over each estuary, lake or pool, the breeding birds prepare to 
defend their unfledged broods, or ensure their escape from the powerful beak 
of their remorseless spoiler. Even the shoals of the finny tribes sink deeper 
into the waters as he approaches ; the young birds become silent in their 
