THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
61 
On the coast of Labrador, I frequently saw these birds seize flounders on 
the edges of the shallows ; they often attempted to swallow them whole, but, 
finding this impracticable, removed to some rock, beat them, and tore them 
to pieces. They appear to digest feathers, bones, and other hard substances 
with ease, seldom disgorging their food, unless for the purpose of feeding 
their young or mates, or when wounded and approached by man, or when 
pursued by some bird of greater power. While at Boston in Massachusetts, 
one cold winter morning, I saw one of these Gulls take up an eel, about 
fifteen or eighteen inches in length, from a mud bank. The Gull rose with 
difficulty, and after some trouble managed to gulp the head of the fish, and 
flew towards the shore with it, when a White-headed Eagle made its ap- 
pearance, and soon overtook the Gull, which reluctantly gave up the eel, 
on which the Eagle glided towards it, and, seizing it with its talons, before 
it reached the water, carried it off. 
This Gull is excessively shy and vigilant, so_ that even at Labrador we 
found it difficult to procure it, nor did we succeed in obtaining more than 
about a dozen old birds, and that only by stratagem. They watched our 
movements with so much care as never to fly past a rock behind which one 
of the party might be likely to lie concealed. None were shot near the 
nests when they were sitting on their eggs, and only one female attempted 
to rescue her young, and was shot as she accidentally flew within distance. 
The time to surprise them was during violent gales, for then they flew close 
to the tops of the highest rocks, where we took care to conceal ourselves 
for the purpose. When we approached the rocky islets on which they bred, 
they left the place as soon as they became aware of our intentions, cackled 
and barked loudly, and when we returned, followed us at a distance more 
than a mile. 
They begin to moult early in July. In the beginning of August the 
young were seen searching for food by themselves, and even far apart. By 
the 12th of that month they had all left Labrador. We saw them after 
wards along the coast of Newfoundland, and while crossing the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, and found them over the bays of Nova Scotia, as we proceeded 
southward. When old, their flesh is tough and unfit for food. Their 
feathers are elastic, and good for pillows and such purposes, but can rarely 
be procured in sufficient quantity. 
The most remarkable circumstance relative to these birds is, that they 
either associate with another species, giving rise to a hybrid brood, or that 
when very old they lose the dark colour of the back, which is then of the 
same tint as that of the Larus argentatus, or even lighter. This curious 
fact was also remarked by thev young gentlemen who accompanied me to 
Labrador ; and although it is impossible for me to clear up the doubts that 
