178 BRITISH AND EUROPEAN BIRDS. 



In fair robes, finely ting*d with ash-grey, o'er the 

 trees, 

 Flew the Gulls (*^) from the sea on a light zephyr 

 breeze. 



C^) Order, Anseres, (Linn.) Gull, Kittiwake, 

 Tarrock, &c. 



The genus Larus, (Linn.) or Gull, consists of nearly thirty 

 species ; they are spread almost universally over the globe, ac- 

 commodating themselves to the winters of the arctic regions, 

 and to the heat of the torrid zone. They have a straight bill, 

 a little hooked at the tip ; a light body supported by large 

 wings; from the feathery buoyancy of which they, it is said, 

 never dive ; toes before webbed, back toe small : the following 

 are the chief: 



The Canus, Gull, Common-Gull, Sea-Gullj White-Web- 

 footed'Gull, Sea-Mall, Sea-Mew, or Sea-Maw,* is seventeen 

 inches long, and weighs fifteen ounces; the head, neck, tail, 

 and under parts of the body white; back, scapulars, and wing 

 coverts ash-colour; bill yellow. Inhabits Europe and Ameri- 

 ca. The preceding is the description of the bird maturely fea- 

 thered ; but the first year it is more or less mottled all over with 

 brown and white; it varies again in the second year ; and it is 

 probable that it does not arrive at maturity till the third or 

 fourth year. It is seen in winter at a considerable distance 

 from the coast, and will follow the plough for the larva: of the 

 cockchafer, Scarabaus Melolontha. It is, however, decidedly a 

 sea-bird, and feeds on fish and marine worms ; breeds on the 

 ledges of rocks, close to the sea- shore; eggs two or three, dull 

 olive, blotched with dusky, size of a small hen's egg. 



A beautiful song of Lord B\ron's in the first canto of 



* '* The greedy Sea-Maw fishing for the fly," 



Drayton's Man in the Moon. 



