400 



THE GULL. 



of the softest down : light, too, as he is, he tops and rides 

 over the waves without an effort ; and his wide wings insure 

 him a safe conveyance from every peril, save that of the gun, 

 to which he may be exposed. 



They are a very numerous tribe, differing a good deal in 

 their habits, if not in their external features. The king of 

 them all seems to be the Burgomaster (Larus glaucus), a 

 name given by the Dutch, being the title of their chief 

 magistrate, to which, by his conduct, he has a fair claim, for 

 no other Gull dares dispute his authority, when he chooses to 

 exert it. A constant attendant on the whale-fishers, when- 

 ever they are busied in cutting up a whale, he hovers over 

 the carcase, and having fixed his eye on a choice morsel of 

 blubber or flesh, which some other of the Gull tribe has 

 secured for itself, down he comes, and, forcing it to abandon 

 the prize, carries it off as his own ; or, if pressed by hunger, 

 he will sometimes even fall upon one of the smaller sea-birds, 

 and devour it whole. Thus, one of them was shot in the 

 Polar expedition under Sir Edward Parry, which immediately 

 disgorged an Auk, or Greenland Dove ; and, on opening him, 

 another was found undigested in his stomach. But this 

 Burgomaster, tyrant as he is, has a rival quite his equal in 

 tyranny, and, though his inferior in size, surpassing him in 

 courage and activity. The Arctic Gull, or Dung-Hunter 



(Lestris parasi- 

 ticus), fears no 

 bird, nor even 

 hesitates to attack 

 any animal, of 

 whatever size, that 

 comes too near its 

 nest. Where they 

 breed in consi- 

 derable numbers, 

 neither Hawks, nor 

 even Eagles, are 

 allowed to ap- 

 proach : for if, 

 either by accident 



