GULLS. 



383 



need hardly be added, that they are the swiftest flyers of the 

 skuas, and consequently the most discursive over the ocean. 

 They do not attack the larger gulls, but they occasion no 

 little annoyance to the smaller ones and the terns, which, 

 especially the former, they often strike on the back to make 

 them disgorge. They inhabit rather more northerly than 

 the species with which they have been confounded, and the 

 confusion has probably arisen from the description of the 

 rare bird having been copied under the name of the more 

 common one, and the blunder continued by those who had 

 no farther knowledge of either of the birds than that which 

 they copied from others. 



The true Arctic skua is altogether one of the most elegant 

 of our sea birds light and handsome in its form, delicate in 

 the colours of its plumage, and free and graceful in its motions. 

 It is one of those birds, the rareness of which is matter of 

 regret. Indeed, the whole genus are birds of much interest ; 

 they form a well-defined genus, and yet one which ex- 

 hibits a very considerable range in size and in characters. 

 To man they do no injury ; and when that is the case, 

 animals are always interesting in proportion to their powers. 



GULLS (Larus). 



The gulls are much more numerous both in species and in 

 individuals, and also much more common on the British 

 shores, than the skuas. Their bills resemble those of the 

 skuas in their general form, but they are more elongated and 

 slender, have the nostrils pervious, and are without a definite 

 cere at the base of the upper mandible. Their legs are rather 

 longer than those of the skuas, and better set for walking ; 

 but they are also bare for a considerable height on the tibia, 

 and have the hind toe only rudiinental. They are rather 

 looser in the feathers, less weighty in proportion to their 

 dimensions, have more of the flying form, and are smoother 



