288 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



maritime, the smaller frequent rivers and lakes. They alight on 

 rocks, shoals, or on the water; walk tolerably well, and swim with 

 ease, but are incapable of diving. They keep much upon the wing, 

 flying out with rapidity, a long sustained and even course, sometimes 

 against the strongest gales of wind. Like Vultures they are vora- 

 cious, feeding on every kind of animal food, whether dead or living, 

 fresh or tainted ; the larger kinds also prey upon eggs and young 

 birds ; but their principal supply is fish, whose crowding shoals they 

 follow with much eagerness, seizing their prey with great address, 

 as it approaches the surface of the water, darting swiftly in the quest, 

 and at the same time submerging the head. So powerful is the gas- 

 tric juice in this family of birds, that it suffices even to digest the 

 scales of fish, feathers, and putrid matter, though when irritated 

 they often disgorge their undigested food. They are also like other 

 ravenous birds, patient of hunger, but eager and quarrelsome for 

 food, and are naturally so morose and resentful as sometimes to 

 attack each other without any apparent cause ; and fall on and de- 

 vour even those of their own species whom they may have acciden- 

 tally wounded ; being unable to resist their cannibal fondness for 

 tlie taste of blood. They breed only once in the year, choosing, on 

 such occasions, the most desert places, or savage and inaccessible 

 rocks, retiring to the remotest of the Arctic islands, and desolate 

 coasts, nesting, or rather merely laying their eggs on the naked 

 rocks, or on the surface of marshy weeds, though some of the spe- 

 cies even construct nests in low trees near the coast, as well as on 

 tlie ground. The eggs are from 2 to 4 ; and the young leaving the 

 nest soon after hatching, are carefully hidden, fed, and protected by 

 tlieir parents for several weeks before they are able to provide for 

 themselves. The Gulls are clamorous, having a loud, shrill and 

 harsh voice, their cries being often repeated while flying. The flesh 

 is generally tough and unsavory ; except in the young of the smaller 

 insecti Amorous species, which may be considered rather as palatable 

 game. 



The tribe of Gulls are spread all over the world ; the species also 

 are numerous, and resemble each other in an extraordinary degree in 

 all their difierent states of plumage. 



