62 
THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
may be naturally entertained on this subject, whichever of the two sup- 
positions is adopted, the fact may yet be established and accounted for by 
persons who may have better opportunities of watching them and studying 
their habits. No individuals of Larus argentatus were, to my knowledge, 
seen on that coast during the three months which I passed there, and the 
fishermen told us that the “ saddle-backs were the only large Gulls that ever 
breed there.” 
This bird must be of extraordinary longevity, as I have seen one that was 
kept in a state of captivity more than thirty years. The following very 
interesting account of the habits of a partially domesticated individual I owe 
to my esteemed and learned friend Dr. Neill of Edinburgh. 
“ In the course of the summer of 1818, a ‘ big scorie’ was brought to me 
by a Newhaven fisher-boy, who mentioned that it had been picked up at sea, 
about the mouth of the Frith of Forth. The bird was not then fully fledged : 
it was quite uninjured : it quickly learned to feed bn potatoes and kitchen 
refuse, along with some Ducks ; and it soon became more familiar than they, 
often peeping in at the kitchen window in hopes of getting a bit of fat meat, 
which it relished highly. It used to follow my servant Peggy Oliver 
about the doors, expanding its wings and vociferating for food. After two 
moults I was agreeably surprised to find it assuming the dark plumage of the 
back, and the shape and colour of the bill of the Larus marinus, or Great 
Black-backed Gull ; for I had hitherto regarded it as merely a large specimen 
of the Lesser Black-backed (. L . fuscus ), a pair of which I then possessed, 
but which had never allowed the new comer to associate with them. The 
bird being perfectly tame, we did not take the precaution of keeping the 
quills of one wing cut short, so as to prevent flight ; indeed, as it was often 
praised as a remarkably large and noble looking Sea-maw, we did not like to 
disfigure it. In the winter of 1821-2, it got a companion in a cock-heron, 
which had been wounded in Coldinghame Muir, brought to Edinburgh alive, 
and kept for some weeks in a cellar in the old college, and then presented 
to me by the late Mr. John Wilson, the janitor, — a person remarkably 
distinguished for his attachment to natural history pursuits. This Heron 
we succeeded in taming completely, and it still (1835) remains with me, 
having the whole garden to range in, the trees to roost upon, and access to 
the loch at pleasure, the loch being the boundary of my garden. Some 
time in the spring of 1822, the large Gull was missing ; and we ascertained 
(in some way that has now escaped my memory) that it had not been stolen, 
nor killed, as we at first supposed, but had taken flight, passing northwards 
over the village, and had probably therefore gone to sea. Of course I gave 
up all expectation of ever hearing more of it. It was not without surprise, 
therefore, that on going home one day in the end of October of that year, I 
