GULLS. 287 



mate suits, the roving flocks or stragglers, find equally a 

 home on every coast, shoal or island. 



The Noddy, (so termed from its apparent stupidity) is about 15 

 inches in length. The bill about 2 inches long, slender and black. 

 The whole plumage is of a sooty brown, except the top of the head 

 which is white, fading gradually into cinereous on the nape. The 

 quills and tail are darker than the rest of the plumage ; and the 

 legs black. 



GULLS. (Larus. Linn.) 



In these birds the bill is of moderate dimensions, stout, hard, 

 straight, compressed, naked at base, with the edges sharp and bent 

 inward ; the upper mandible rounded above, rather sharp, and curved 

 at the point ; the lower somewhat shorter, gibbous and angular be- 

 neath the point, blunt and oblique at the tip. Nostrils medial, 

 lateral, longitudinal, linear, wider and rounded anteriorly, open, and 

 pervious. Feet rather slender ; tarsus nearly equal to the middle 

 toe ; webs entire ; lateral toes margined exteriorly with a narrow 

 membrane ; hind toe very small, articulated high upon the tarsus, 

 and wholly raised from the ground ; nails small, curved, and rather 

 acute ; hind nail sometimes wanting. Wings long and acute ; 1st 

 and 2d primaries nearly equal and the longest in the winfj. Tail 

 almost always even, of 12 feathers. 



Female somewhat smaller, but similar in plumage with the male. 

 The young, for several years (in the larger species for 4 or 5,) dif- 

 ferent from the adult. They moult twice in the 3'ear, changing the 

 colors of the head only ; the young moulting continually. The 

 plumage is remarkably silky, elastic, and plentifully supplied with 

 down. The colors, including the tail, always pure white, with a 

 distinct mantle ; the mantle white, pearl grey, or deep black. The 

 young mottled with dull grey, and various tints of brownish, con- 

 fusedly spotted ; bill, feet, and iris dark, light colored in the adult. 



The Gulls are timid, gluttonous, and cowardly birds, except when 

 defending their young. They associate generally in large flocks, so 

 numerous at times, as to cover the shores where they dwell, tlie 

 young and old keeping in societies apart) the larger kinds being wholly 



