1 84 GULL. ORDER IV. GRALLJE. 

 THE GULL. 



This is a pretty large genus, the distinguishing characters 

 of which are, that the bill is long, straight, and incurvated 

 at the extremity ; the tongue is slightly cloven ; the body 

 is light, and covered with thick plumage ; the wings are 

 large, and the legs short. These birds, which are almost 

 incessantly upon the wing, feed upon fish, and are ex- 

 tremely clamorous along the shores which they frequent. 

 The British islands, particularly the northern parts of 

 them, furnish several species. The common gull, the 

 most numerous of the kind, breeds on the ledges of cliffs 

 that hang over the sea ; and, during the winter season, fre- 

 quents almost every part of our shores where the boldness 

 of the cliffs presents a favourable situation. Like other 

 rapacious birds, it lays but few eggs ; which circumstance, 

 added to the numbers continually destroyed for subsist- 

 ence, has considerably thinned the breed in many places. 



. ORDER IV GRALUE, OR THE CRANE KIND. 



: THE bills of birds among the crane kind are formed for 

 the purposes of searching and examining the bottom of 

 .pools ; their legs are long, and adapted for wading ; the 

 thighs are half naked; their bodies are slender, and covered 

 with thin skins; their tails are short, and the flesh is in 

 -general savoury. They live on animal food, and commonly 

 build their nests on the ground. 



The cranes form a numerous family, which, including 

 the stork and the heron, may all be known either by the 

 .length of their legs, or their scaly coverings, and their 

 adaptation to wading. They lead a life of precarious 

 liberty in fens and marshes, on the margins of s^as or lakes; 

 and subsist on fish, reptiles, and insects. 



