430 



THE GULL. 



in their habits, if not in their external features. The 

 king of them all seems to be the Burgomaster (Larus 

 glaucus), a name given by the Dutch, being the title of 

 their chief magistrate, to which, by his conduct, he has 

 a fair claim, for no other Gull dares dispute his autho- 

 rity, when he chooses to exert it. A constant attendant 

 on the whale-fishers, whenever they are busied in cut- 

 ting up a whale, he hovers over the carcase, and having 

 fixed his eye on a choice morsel of blubber or flesh, 

 which some other of the Gull tribe has secured for itself, 

 down he comes, and, forcing it to abandon the prize, car- 

 ries it off as his own ; or, if pressed 1 % hunger, he will 

 sometimes even fall upon one of the smaller sea-birds, 

 and devour it whole. Thus, one of them was shot in 

 the Polar expedition under Sir Edward Parry, which 

 immediately disgorged an Auk, or Greenland Dove ; and, 

 on opening him, another was found undigested in his 

 stomach. But this Burgomaster, tyrant as lie is,, has a 

 rival quite his equal in tyranny, and, though his inferior 

 in size, surpassing him in courage and activity. The 

 Arctic Gull, or Dung-Hunter (Lestris parasiticus), fears 

 _ no bird, nor even 



hesitates to attack 

 any animal, of 

 whatever size, that 

 comes too near its 

 nest. Where they 

 breed in consi- 

 derable numbers, 

 neither Hawks, 

 nor even Eagles, 

 are allowed to ap- 

 proach ; for if, 

 either by accident 



or design, any of 

 White Gull. ,, . rV J 



these birds of prey 



are seen, the whole assembly attack, and compel them to 

 retire. Hence, in some places where they abound, they 



