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HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



the kind that offers. Gulls are found in 

 great plenty in every place ; but it is chiefly 

 round our boldest rockiest shores that they are 

 seen in the greatest abundance ; it is there 

 that the gull breeds and brings up its young ; 

 it is there that millions of them are heard 

 screaming with discordant notes for months 

 together. 



Those who have been much upon our 

 coasts know that there are two different kinds 

 of shores ; that which slants down to the 

 water with a gentle declivity, and that which 

 rises with a precipitate boldness, and seems 

 set as a bulwark to repel the force of the 

 invading deeps. It is to such shores as these 

 that the whole tribe of the gull kind resort, as 

 the rocks offer them a retreat for their young, 

 and the sea a sufficient supply. It is in the ca- 

 vities of these rocks, of which the shore is com- 

 posed, that the vast variety of sea-fowls retire 

 to breed in safety. The waves beneath, that 

 continually beat at the base, often wear the 



quantity of this oily matter is so considerable, that, in 

 the Faro Isles, they use petrels for candles, with no other 

 preparation than drawing a wick through the body of the 

 birds from the mouth to the rump. 



The Gulls, Buffon terms the vultures of the sea, for 

 they feed upon carcasses of every description, which are 

 either floating on its surface, or cast upon its shores. 

 They swarm upon the borders of the sea, where they 

 seek fish, either fresh or corrupted, flesh in the same 

 states, worms, or mollusca, all of which their stomach is 

 capable of digesting. Spread throughout the entire 

 globe, they cover with their multitudes the shores, rocks, 

 and cliffs, causing them to re-echo with their clamours. 

 There are even some species which frequent the fresh 

 waters, and some are to be met with at sea, at more 

 than a hundred leagues distant from land. D'Azara, 

 who has seen them, in innumerable quantities, near the 

 slaughter houses of Monte Video, Buenos Ayres, and 

 even in the squares, where they pick up the offal of the 

 shambles, &c., and sometimes perch on the roofs, tells 

 us that they proceed considerably to inland, whither 

 they are attracted by dead animals. They dart with 

 such violence on their prey, that they will swallow both 

 bait and hook, and spit themselves on the point placed 

 by the fisher under the fish which he presents to them. 

 It is, therefore, very natural that they should pursue 

 individuals of their own species, in whose possession 

 they see any food, a fact, moreover, of which we are 

 constant eye-witnesses in other species, such as sparrows, 

 hens, &c. The following cut represents a Common 

 Gull. Gulls have been found by navigators in all lati- 



tudes? (hey are, however, both more numerous and 

 larger in the northern regions, where the carcasses of 

 large fishes and cetacea present them with more abuu- 



shore into an impending boldness ; so that it 

 seems to jut out over the water, while the 

 raging of the sea makes the place inaccessible 

 from below. These are the situations to 

 which sea-fowl chiefly resort, and bring up 

 their young in undisturbed security. 



Those who have never observed our boldest 

 coasts, have no idea of their tremendous sub- 

 limity. The boasted works of art, the high- 

 est towers, and the noblest domes, are but 

 ant-hills when put in comparison : the single 

 cavity of a rock often exhibits a coping higher 

 than the ceiling of a Gothic cathedral. The 

 face of the shore offers to the view a wall of 

 massive stone, ten times higher than our 

 tallest steeples. What should we think of a 

 precipice three quarters of a mile in height? 

 and yet the rocks of St Kilda are still higher ! 

 What must be our awe to approach the edge 

 of that impending height, and to look down 

 on the unfathomable vacuity below; to ponder 

 on the terrors of falling to the bottom, where 



dant food, and it is on the desert islands of the two 

 polar zones, where they are undisturbed, that they prefer 

 to nestle. They deposit their eggs either in a hole upon 

 the sand, or in the crevices of rocks ; but in less deserted 

 countries the smaller species seek the borders of waters, 

 or of the sea, which are covered with plants. The Sea- 

 mew is a species of gull, distinguished from the rest by 

 its black and white pie-bald appearance, although the 

 individuals vary from each other in the colour of their 

 plumage. 



The Tern* have been also called Sea Swallows, from 

 the resemblance of their forked tail, long wings, and 

 their constant habit of shaving the surface of the water 

 in all directions, in pursuit of small fish. But the term 

 is objectionable, as tending to the inter-confusion of 

 birds of such different orders, and such essential differ- 

 ences of conformation and habits. The terns are con- 

 tinually on the wing, and, though webfooted, are not 

 seen to swim; they rest but seldom, and only on the 

 land ; their food consists, for the most part, of small fish 

 and mollusca, which they seize upon the surface of the 

 water; but they also catch aerial insects. In flying 

 they send forth sharp and piercing cries, especially dur- 

 ing nestling time. In calm weather they sometime rise 

 very high, and are often seen to come plump down. 

 The young differ from the adult and aged, only before 

 the moulting, which is double in the known species, and 

 there is no external difference between the two sexes. 

 The females deposit their eggs, usually two or three in 

 number, in a cavity, and these nests are sometimes so 

 close, that the sitting birds touch each other. Terns 

 are found in both continents, from the seas, lakes, and 

 rivers of the north, as far as the vast coasts of the 



Austral ocean, and in almost all the intermediate clim- 

 ates. The above cut represents a Common Tern 



