GULLS. 
5*5 
Siberia, and various parts of America, the herring-gull is replaced by several 
very closely allied forms, mainly distinguished by the darker or lighter hue of the 
mantle, the pattern of the quill-feathers, and the colour of the legs and of the ring 
round the eye. These gulls are in the habit of following the shoals of the fish 
from which they take their name, and may often be seen hovering above the 
fry, preparatory to taking a plunge among them in the water. Their chief food 
consists, however, of various marine animals thrown up by the tide ; although during 
the spring, and after rough weather, 
they frequently wander far inland. 
Somewhat superior in size to the 
common gull (its length being 
about 21 inches), the lesser black- 
backed gull ( L. fuscus ) in the adult 
summer - plumage has the head 
white, the primaries blackish with 
white tips, the back blackish, and 
the legs bright yellow. This species 
is resident in Britain, and ranges 
eastwards to the Caspian, while 
southwards it extends into Africa, 
and westwards to the Canaries. 
Of the great black - backed gull 
(L. marinus), which is larger than 
all the preceding, a well-known 
observer, who writes under the 
nom de plume of “ A Son of the 
Marshes,” says that these birds 
'• are not particular as to the nature 
of their food, so long as there is 
enough of it; a rat or a bird, a 
fish or a snail, or bread and milk, 
will suit almost equally well. 
Tradition said that in the early 
days of our oldest inhabitants the great black-backed gull bred on some of the wild 
flats of the Kentish coast, and in a portion of the lonely salt marshes of Essex.” 
In attacking young lambs, these gulls invariably commence by pecking out the 
eyes of their victims; and as many as nine of these marauders have been captured 
during a single evening by setting a number of traps round a dead lamb. In 
length this gull measures upwards of 28 inches ; and in the adult breeding-plumage 
the head is white, the back blackish, and the legs flesh-colour; the number of 
flight-feathers being thirty-four. Essentially an oceanic species, the greater 
black-backed gull is mainly an inhabitant of both sides of the North Atlantic, 
although it has been procured on the Pacific side of North America, and in winter 
it ranges as far south as the Canaries. In the Southern Hemisphere it is replaced 
by the southern black-backed gull ( L. dominicanus), characterised by its stout- 
beak, brownish black mantle, and olive-coloured legs. Largest of all the British 
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
