428 



NATATORES. BIRDS. LARID.*:. 



tities. Its courage, however, is not equal to its size 

 and strength ; and the sea-eagles and even the larger 

 gulls will attack it boldly and compel it to give up 

 its prey. It is said sometimes to attack sailors who 

 fall overboard, and is frequently captured by means 

 of a hook baited with a piece of meat, and trailed along 

 at the stern of a ship. The eggs of this bird and its 

 allies, which are of a large size, are deposited upon the 

 rocky and desolate islands scattered over the ocean 

 which they frequent; they are said to be exceedingly 

 good, and, like the young birds, are eaten by the sealers 

 and whalers. 



FAMILY V. LARID^C. 



In this family, of which our common Gulls furnish 

 well-known and characteristic examples, the wings are 

 well developed, and the birds possess a great power of 

 flight. The bill is variable in its form, but generally 

 rather elongated and compressed, not furnished with 

 a distinct tip as in the preceding family, and the nostrils 



Fig. 135. 



Head of Common Gull. 



form linear or oval slits in the sides of the upper man- 

 dible without any trace of tubular structure fig. 135. 

 The feet, which are placed moderately forward, so as 

 to enable the birds to walk with ease, are generally 

 small ; the three anterior toes are long and united by 

 a complete membrane, and the hinder toe is small and 

 elevated on the back of the tarsus. 



These birds are generally distributed and numerous 

 in most parts of the world, but are most abundant in 

 the Northern and Southern seas. They fly well, and 

 float very lightly and buoyantly upon the surface of the 

 waves, but do not swim much, and are incapable of 

 those remarkable diving exercises which compensate 

 so many of the short-winged species for the imperfec- 

 tion of their power of flight. They are generally noisy, 

 screaming birds, which live together in considerable 

 flocks, and breed in company upon the ledges of pre- 

 cipitous rocks ; their food consists chiefly of fishes, 

 which they capture by dashing down into the water 

 as they skim lightly and swiftly above its surface ; but 

 they by no means confine themselves to this diet, and 

 many of them feed freely even upon carrion. 



THE COMMON GULL (Larus canus), one of the most 

 abundant of the British species of this family, occurs 

 also in most parts of Europe and in North America. 



It is about eighteen inches in length, and is of a pearl- 

 gray colour above ; the head and neck and lower surface 

 are white ; the secondaries and tertials are tipped with 

 white, and the primaries are black on the outer webs, 

 with a white patch near the tips of the first and second. 

 The bill is greenish-gray, becoming yellow towards the 

 tip, and the feet are of a dark-greenish colour. 



This bird is common on most parts of our coasts 

 throughout the year, but is more abundant in some 

 places than in others. It may be seen walking about 

 upon the shore or sand-banks engaged in picking up 

 any portions of food left by the tide, or taking short 

 flights over the shallow water, to seize upon small 

 fishes and other floating objects. It may also fre- 

 quently be seen in some districts at a distance of several 

 miles from the sea, following the ploughs in order to 

 pick up the insects and grubs ; and it is by no means 

 uncommon for it to advance many miles along the 

 course of a tidal river. The Common Gull breeds on 

 the ledge of a cliff", wherever the coast presents such 

 conveniences ; on flat shores, it breeds in the marshes, 

 or on low sandy islands. The nest is rather large, and 

 is composed of sea-weeds and grass ; the female lays 

 two or three eggs. 



THE GREAT BLACK-BACKED GTJLL (Larus marinus} 

 is a constant inhabitant of our coasts, although by 

 no means so numerous as the species just described. 

 It is a large bird, measuring as much as thirty 

 inches in length, and is very predacious in its habits, 

 destroying not only fish, which may be looked upon as 

 its natural prey, but also small birds and even "weakly 

 lambs. 



THE LESSEE BLACK-BACKED GULL (Larus fuscus] 

 closely resembles the preceding species in its general 

 appearance, but is less than two feet in length. It is 

 an abundant species about the British coasts, and is 

 widely distributed over the seas of the Old World. 

 This species always breeds on the ledges of rocks, 

 making a nest of grass, in which the female lays two 

 or three eggs. The old birds are very bold in defence 

 of their eggs and young, dashing towards any intruder, 

 to frighten him from the vicinity of the nest, and 

 sometimes actually striking him with their bills. In 

 other respects the habits of this bird resemble those of 

 the preceding species. 



THE HERRING GULL (Lams argentatus), an abundant 

 and widely-distributed species in both hemispheres, is 

 a little larger than the last species, with which it asso- 

 ciates most amicably, usually breeding in the same 

 locality. It has the head, neck, and lower surface pure 

 white, and the back and wings delicate French gray ; 

 the tertials are tipped with white, and the primaries are 

 black, with small white spots at the extremities of the 

 first three. The bill is yellow, with the apex of the 

 lower mandible red, and the feet are flesh colour. The 

 Herring Gull receives its name from its partiality to 

 small fish, in pursuit of which it approaches the boats 

 of the fishermen with great boldness. 



THE LITTLE GULL (Larus minutus) is the smallest 

 species of this family, measuring little more than ten 

 inches in length. It has the head and upper part of 

 the neck black ; the lower part of the neck white ; the 

 upper surface pale ashy-gray, with the primaries darker, 



