JButfomirn at 'Hmmntrtf $ature. 295 



is pale yellow, very thick and strong ; the 

 projecting angle on the lower mandible is 

 light red, with a black spot in the middle, 

 on each side : the irides are yellow, and the 

 edges of the eyelids orange : the upper part 



] of the back and wings black : all the other 



i parts of its plumage, including the tips of 

 the quill feathers, are white : the legs are of 



i a pale flesh-colour. The Black-backed Gull 

 is common in the northern parts of Europe, 

 though but thinly scattered on the coasts of 



' England. In their native haunts, their fa- 

 vourite breeding places are high inaccessible 

 islets, covered with long coarse grass. Their 

 eggs are of a round shape, of a dark olive 

 colour, thinly marked with dusky spots, and 



' quite black at the thicker end. They prin- 

 cipally subsist on fish, but when such food 



! is not easily obtainable they will devour 



j carrion. Their cry is hoarse and disagrce- 



| able. 



The IVORY GULL. (Larus cburneus.} A 

 species of Gull, so called from its white plu- 

 mage, the pureness of which certainly equals 

 ! in colour new-fallen snow. It is very com- 



mon in the arctic regions, especially in Baf- 

 fin's Bay and the straits leading to it. By 

 our Arctic Voyagers, Captains Parry, Lyons, 

 Ross, and others, it is often mentioned, and 

 is strikingly characteristic of the arctic seas. 

 It is said to have occurred in the Orkney 

 Islands ; but in Britain this snow-white bird 

 must be regarded as about as rara an avis 

 as the black swan was to the ancients. 



Tie HEKRINO GULL, or SILVERY GULL. 

 (Larus argentatm.) This species, which has 

 obtained its name from pursuing and prey- 

 ing upon the shoals of herrings, is met with 

 in the northern seas, and is also well known 

 on our own coasts. In length it is twenty- 

 three inches, and in breadtli fifty-two : the 

 bill is yellow, except the spot on the angular 

 knob of the under mandible, which is deep 

 orange : the irides pale yellow, and tin 

 edges of the eyelids red: the head, neck, 

 and tail are white; the back and wing- 

 coverts are dark bluish ash ; and the legs 

 are of a pale flesh-colour. They make their 

 nests of dry grass, mixed with sea-weed, on 



the projecting ledges of the rocks, and lay 



gs of a dirty white colour, spo 

 with black. These Gulls are said to be re- 



three eggs of a dirty white colour, spotted 

 ese Gulls are said to be re- 

 markable for their vigilance ; and fishermen 



describe them as the hold and constant at- 

 tendants on their nets, from which they find 



it difficult to drive them. The young, which 

 are ash-coloured spotted with brown, do not 

 assume their mature plumage till they arc 



one year old : a circumstance, indeed, com- 

 mon to others of the genus ; and which, not 

 being properly attended to, has occasioned 

 considerable confusion in the_ descriptions 

 which have sometimes been given of them. 

 [For the Arctic Gull and Skua Gull, see 

 LESTKIS.] 



GULO. A genus of carnivorous quadru- 

 peds, the formidably armed skull of which 

 is well shown in the woodcut for the habits 



