PALMIPEDES. 365 
strong, and trenchant bill is marked with sutures, and is terminated by a 
stout hook, which seems to be articulated to it. The nostrils resemble 
short rolls laid on the sides of the bill; there is no thumb, not even the 
small nail that is observed in the Petrels. They inhabit all the South 
seas, and feed on the spawn of fish, mollusca, &c. 
D. exulans, L., Enl. 237; Vieill. Gal. 293, is the species best 
known to navigators, who, on account of its size, white plumage, 
and black wings, and because it is particularly common beyond the 
tropic of Capricorn, have called it The Cape Sheep. The English 
also style it the Man of War Bird, &c. It is the great enemy of 
the Flying-fish. It constructs a raised-up nest of earth, and lays a 
number of eggs, which are considered good food. The cry of this 
bird is said to be as powerful as that of the Ass*. 
Various Albatrosses, more or less brown or blackish, have been 
observed; but whether they form varieties of the exulans, or are 
distinct species, has not yet been ascertained t. 
Larust{, Lin. 
The Gulls have a compressed, elongated, pointed bill, the superior 
mandible arcuated near the end, and the inferior forming a salient angle 
beneath. The nostrils, placed near its middle, are long, narrow, and 
bored quite through; their tail is full, their legs tolerably long, and their 
thumb short. They are cowardly and voracious birds, which swarm along 
the sea coasts, feeding on fish, the flesh of dead bodies, &c. They 
build nests in the sand, or in clefts of rock, laying butfew eggs. When 
they fly into the interior of a country bad weather may be expected. 
Several species are found on the coast of France, and, as their plumage 
is greatly changed by age, the number has been still more increased. 
When young, they are usually spotted with grey. Buffon’ calls 
GorLanps||, 
The large species whose size exceeds that of a Duck. One of the 
largest is 
Lar. marinus and nevius, Gm.; Goeland a manteau noir, Enl. 
990 and 266 (the Great Black-backed Gull), which, at first, spotted 
with white and grey, afterwards becomes all white, with a black 
mantle; the bill is yellow, with a red spot underneath; feet reddish. 
Lar. glaucus, Gm.; Burgomestre; Naum. Ed. I, 36, is nearly 
# Dr. M‘Murtrie observes, that the cry of the Albatross has been quite as much 
exaggerated as its size. He has repeatedly heard it when within a hundred yards of 
the bird, and from various individuals, some of large size, and consequently adults; 
and he describes it as a piping kind of clang, deeper than that of a Goose, but some- 
thing like it— Ene. Ep. 
+ Such is the Diom. spadicea.—Add, D. brachyura, Tem., Enl. 963;—D. melano- 
phris, T. Col. 456;—D. chlororhynchos, Lath. V, pl. xciv, Col. 468;—D. fuliginosa, 
Col. 469. 
+ Larus, the Greek name of these birds, Gavia in Latin, whence Gabian in Pro- 
vence; they are called Mauves, or Mouettes, in French, from their German name 
Meeve. 
|| Goéland, a corruption of Gull, Gull-ent. 
