COMMON GULL, OR MEW. 299 



black : the 4th and 5th have small white tips. Head, neck, rump, 

 tail, and whole under plumage, white. Bill yellowish. Orbits and 

 inside of the mouth orange colored. Legs blackish. Tail 2 inches 

 longer than the wings. In icinter the hind head and neck are French 

 grey, and the plumage between the eye and bill is finely streaked 

 with black. In the young the bill is black. 



COMMON GULL, or MEW. 



(Larus canus, Lix. Temm. Man. dOrn. ii. p. 771. Bonap. Syn. No. 

 296. Richard. North. Zool. ii. p. 420. Mouette a pieds bleus. 

 Buff. Ois. viii. p. 428. PI. Enlum. 977.) 



Sp. Charact. — Mantle bluish-grey : quills black at the point, reach- 

 ing much beyond the tail ; shafts black ; bill small ; feet bluish ; tar- 

 sus little more than 2 inches. — Summer plumage, wdth the head 

 and neck pure white. Winter dress ; the head and neck spotted 

 with blackish. Young brownish-cinereous, varied with rusty. 



The common Gull, like so many other species is com- 

 mon to the shores of both continents. It breeds in Arctic 

 America, and is found in Iceland and the Russian lakes. 

 At the approach of winter they retire south, and at this time 

 are numerous in the Middle States of the Union. At the 

 approach of storms they are often seen to travel inland in 

 flocks. From its disagreeable and squalling, almost feline 

 cry, it has received the name of meiv and mall. It nests 

 usually in the herbage, near the outlets of rivers and on the 

 borders of the sea ; the eggs are 3, of a bluish ochraceous 

 tint, marked with irregular spots of black and cinereous. 

 They live upon fish, worms, marine insects, and bivalve 

 shells, which last they are known sometimes to carry up into 

 the air and drop them on the ground in order to obtain their 

 contents. On being alarmed they disgorge their food, but 

 swallow it again when the fright is over. 



The length of the Common Gull is about 19 inches ; the wdng 14 

 inches; the bill from above, 1 inch and nearly 5 lines ; the tarsus 2 



