328 TUE FEATHERED DERVISHES OF THE AIR. 



the air, and uttering its hoarse cries overhead, as if laughing 

 at their misery. 



Another inhabitant of the cold regions is the Iceland 

 Gull, smaller in size, and elegant in shape. Some species of 

 this family are remakably beautiful: one of the smallest, the 

 " Little Gull," from the Arctic shores, has a lovely roseate 

 tint overspreading the white under-plumage. The Black- 

 headed Gull abounds on English shores during autumn and 

 winter, and is a fine bird, familiar and unsuspicious in his hab- 

 its, and additionally interesting from the circumstance that 

 this species was protected by the Druids, and was figur- 

 atively adopted as an emblem connected with the Deluge, 

 and formed an important feature in their ceremonies. 



The Great Black-backed Gull, distinguished also by the 

 appellations of the Goose Gull, Gray Gull, and Parson Gull, 

 the latter name arising from the contrast between the black 

 back Avith the snow-white of the under-plumage, is a large 

 and handsome bird. To every frequenter of the coast the 

 stately and graceful form of this bird is well known, and 

 whether observed in summer, when quietly sunning itself 

 on the strand, or in winter amidst the conflicting war of ele- 

 ments steadying itself in the eddying blast, it cannot fiiil to 

 excite admiration. At no time more attractive than when 

 observed during hazy, foggy weather, a black-backed gull, 

 looming through a cloud, with its immense sweep of wing 

 (often exceeding five feet), increased by the state of the 

 atmosphere to a giant size, almost reminds us of the al- 

 batross. 



The Herring or Silvery Gull, is distinguished by the 

 spotless purity of its plumage, and ranks among the most 

 beautiful of the gulls that frequent our shores, and has been 

 called the feathered dervish of the air from its rapid 

 and gyratory mode of flying. 



The Kittiwake is, with the exception of the " black- 

 headed," the smallest of our common gulls, and during the 



