PALMIPEDES. 3G5 



stlrong, and trenchant bill is marked with sutures, and is terminated by a 

 stout hook, which seems to be articulated to it. The nostrils resemble 

 short rolls laid on the sides of the bill ; there is no thumb, not even the 

 small nail that is observed in the Petrels. They inhabit all the South 

 seas, and feed on the spawn of fish, moUusca, &c. 



D. exulans, L., Enl. 237; Vieill. Gal. 293, is the species best 

 known to navigators, who, on account of its size, white plumage, 

 and black wings, and because it is particularly common beyond the 

 tropic of Capricorn, have called it The Cape Sheep. The English 

 also style it the Man of War Bird, &c. It is the great enemy of 

 the Flying-fish. It constructs a raised-up nest of earth, and lays a 

 number of eggs, which are considered good food. The cry of this 

 bird is said to be as powerful as that of the Ass*. 



Various Albatrosses, more or less brown or blackish, have been 

 observed; but whether they form varieties of the exulans, or are 

 distinct species, has not yet been ascertained -i". 



LarusJ, Lin. 



The Gulls have a compressed, elongated, pointed bill, the superior 

 mandible arcuated near the end, and the inferior forming a salient angle 

 beneath. The nostrils, placed near its middle, are long, narrow, and 

 bored quite through; their tail is full, their legs tolerably long, and their 

 thumb short. They are cowardly and voracious birds, which swarm along 

 the sea coasts, feeding on fish, the flesh of dead bodies, &c. They 

 build nests in the sand, or in clefts of rock, laying but few eggs. When 

 they fly into the interior of a country bad weather may be expected. 

 Several species are found on the coast of France, and, as their plumage 

 is greatly changed by age, the number has been still more increased. 

 When young, tliey are usually spotted with grey. BufFon calls 



GoELANDsll, 



The large species whose size exceeds that of a Duck. One of the 

 largest is 



Lar. marinus and ncevius, Gm. ; Goeland a manteau noir, Enl. 



990 and 266 (the Great Black-backed Gull), which, at first, spotted 



with white and grey, afterwards becomes all white, with a black 



mantle ; the bill is yellow, with a red spot underneath ; feet reddish. 



Lar. glaucusy Gra. ; Burgomestre ; Naum. Ed. I, 36, is nearly 



• Dr. M'Murtrie obsen'es, that the cry of the Albatross has been quite as much 

 exaggerated as its size. He has repeatedly heard it when within a hundred yards of 

 the bird, and from various individuals, some of large size, and consequently adults; 

 and he describes it as a piping kind of clang, deeper than that of a Goose, but some- 

 thing like it. — Eng. Ed. 



f Such is the Diom. spadicea. — Add, D. brachyura, Tem., Enl. 963; — D. melano- 

 phris, T. Col. 456;— Z). chlororhynchos, Lath. V, pi, xciv, Col. 468;— i). fuliginosa, 

 Col. 469. 



X Larus, the Greek name of these birds, Gavia in Latin, whence Gahian in Pro- 

 vence; they are called Mattves, or Mouettes, in French, from their German name 

 Maeve. 



II Goeland, a corruption of Gull, Gull-eut. 



