. Wild birds and their haunts (a book for students and sportsmen) . lins, flying with them, and so closelyresembling them in size and movements that a descrip-tion of the one equally characterises the other. It wasonly, in fact, by the coloration that I could discriminatebetween them; and this I did, on several occasions withgreat ease, having obtained my specimens singly whilethey were surrounded by other birds. This bird is very numerous in Orkney and Shetland,appearing early in autumn, and leaving again at the latterend of April, about which time it collects in large flocks,and may be found
. Wild birds and their haunts (a book for students and sportsmen) . lins, flying with them, and so closelyresembling them in size and movements that a descrip-tion of the one equally characterises the other. It wasonly, in fact, by the coloration that I could discriminatebetween them; and this I did, on several occasions withgreat ease, having obtained my specimens singly whilethey were surrounded by other birds. This bird is very numerous in Orkney and Shetland,appearing early in autumn, and leaving again at the latterend of April, about which time it collects in large flocks,and may be found on the rocks at ebb-tide, watching eachretiring wave, running down as the water falls back,picking small shell-fish off the stones, and displayinggreat activity in escaping the advancing sea. It does notbreed there. The bird has a wide geographical range. It has beenoften observed in the Arctic regions, where it breeds aboutlat. 78°. It is also well known in North America, and isfound in various parts of the continent of Europe, es-pecially Holland and The Great Black-backed Gull 199 THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL(LARUS MARINUS). GENERIC features: Wings extending but littlebeyond the tail; legs pale flesh-colour ; length,thirty inches ; breadth about five feet nine most other respects resembling the Lesser Black-backGull. Eggs stone-buff, blotched, and spotted with duskybrown. Of the two Black-backed Gulls, the Greater, or Cobb, is by far the less frequent on our coasts, andwhen seen generally occurs in pairs. It remains with usall the year, but is most frequent in the south duringwinter. In spring, Great Black-back Gulls for the most partwithdraw to cliffs and rocky islands far north, as, forinstance, the Orkneys and Hebrides, where they arenumerous, a few only nesting southwards. Unlike mostother gulls, birds of this species are unsociable even inthe breeding season. They build their nests on the mostinaccessible parts of the rocks, and reserve the situatio
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectwaterbi, bookyear1922
