214 BRITISH BIRDS. 



f[)c 



BILL strong, hard, cylindrical, compressed, and 

 hooked at the point; the upper mandible covered 

 with a cere, the lower forming a prominent angle; 

 nostrils extending far forward, diagonal and 

 straight: feet slender, naked above the knee; the 

 tarsus long;* three toes fonvard and fully webbed; 

 the hind toe small ; claws large, and much hooked ; 

 tail slightly rounded, the two middle feathers 

 always longer than the rest : wings extending very 

 little beyond the tail, the first quill the longest. 



The birds composing this subdivision, were for- 

 merly included in the genus Larus of Linnaeus. 

 Lately, however, M. Temminck, following the 

 arrangement of M. Illiger, an eminent German 

 naturalist, has formed them into a distinct genus, 

 Lestris, a term which, as it is very expressive of 

 their general character, and has been fully re- 

 cognised by later writers of authority, we have 

 adopted. 



While the Gulls are represented as indolent, 

 cowardly, (we think with injustice) and gluttonous, 

 birds of the present genus are singularly bold and 

 active, fishing occasionally on their own account, 

 but not unfrequently subsisting on the food swal- 

 lowed by some of the Terns, and smaller species of 

 the Gulls, which, after a determined and harassing 



* The length of the tarsus is considered one of the best marks for 

 distinguishing the old from the young birds. 



