PALMIPEDES. 413 



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 mains so during the summer Enl. 970; the feet and beak are 

 more or less red. It has been called, from its note, the Laugh- 

 ing Gull.(l) 



Lar. tridactylus, and Lar. rissa, Gm.; La M. a trois doigts, 

 Briss. VI, xvi, 1, and xvii, 2, is also very similar to the preced- 

 ing- species, but may be distinguished by its very short and im- 

 perfect thumb. When young it is more or less spotted with 

 black or brown, Enl. 387. 



Lestris, Illig. (2) Stercorarius, Briss. Labbes, BufF. 



These birds have very properly been separated from the Common 

 Gulls. Their membranous nostrils, larger than those of the latter, 

 open neare^ to the point and edge of the beak; their tail is pointed. 

 They pursue the small Gulls with singular ferocity to rob them of 

 their food, and, as it is said, to devour their excrement. Hence their 

 name. 



Lar. parasiticus, Gm.; Labbe a longue queue, Enl. 762; Edw. 

 148. (The Arctic Gull.) A deep brown above, white beneath; 

 the two middle quills of the tail are double the length of the 

 others. It is very rare in France. When young it is all brown, 

 and is then the Lar. crcpidatus, Gm.; Enl. 991, or better, Edw. 

 149.(3) 



The arctic regions produce a species the size of a Goeland, 

 which is brown, with the base of the wing-quills white, Lar. ca- 

 taractes, Gm., Brit. Zool. pi. L., 6; and another the size of a 

 Mouette, brown above, white underneath, with a brown collar 

 on the breast, the Lestris pomarinus, Tem.(4) 



Sterna, Lin. ("5) 



The Terns, or Sea-Swallows, derive this latter appellation from 

 their excessively long and pointed wings and from their forked tail, 



(1) KM Lar. atricilla. Pall. Nov. Com. Petr., XV, xxii, 2; Catesb., I, 89; Wils. 

 IX, Ixxiv, 4, by the name of ridibundus,- Lar. leucopterus; L. cirrhocephalus, 

 Vieill. Gal. 289, ov polioeephalus, Licht.; L. leucophthalmus, hicht. Col. 366; L. 

 Sahini, Leach; L. minutus, Falk. Voy. Ill, xxiv; L. mclanurus, T. Col. 459, 

 and Tiles, Voy. de Krus.enst., pi. Ivii. 



(2) Aorp/?, thief, the name of these birds among the Swedish fishermen. Vieil- 

 lot has changed these names to Stercoreus. 



(3) This is clearly a mistake. The L. crcpidatus, Brehm. is identical with the L. 

 ^uffonii, Bo'ie, Enl. 762. A7n. Ed. . 



(4) I cannot affirm the identity of the Lestris catarractes, Freycin., 38, and of 

 the Stercoreus pomarinus, Vieill. Gal. 288, with the above species. 



(5) Stern, or Tern, is their English name, latinized as above by Turner, and ad- 

 mitted by Gesner. 



