185 ARCTIC GULL. Class II. 



where they appear in May, and retire in Au- 

 gust ; and also on the coast of Yorkshire^ where 

 they are known by the name of Feaser. All 

 writers that mention this species agree, that it 

 has the property of pursuing the lesser gulls 

 so long, that they discharge the contents of the 

 maw, and that it catches up and devours what 

 they disgorge before it drops into the water; 

 from which the name ; Lmnczus wittily calling 

 it the Parasite, alluding to its sordid life. 

 Descrip- Its length is twenty-one inches. The bill is 

 ^^°^' dusky, about an inch and a half long, pretty 

 much hooked at the end, but the strait part 

 is covered with a sort of cere. The nostrils 

 are narrow, and placed near the end. In 

 Male, the male, the crown of the head is black ; the 

 back, wings, and tail, dusky; but the lower 

 part of the inner webs of the quil feathers 

 are white; the hind part of the neck, and 

 Avhole under side of the body of the same 

 color; the tail consists of twelve feathers, the 

 two middlemost nearly four inches longer than 

 the others; the legs black, small, and scaly. 

 Female. The female is entirely brown ; but of a much 

 paler color below than above ; the feathers in 

 the middle of the tail only two inches longer 

 than the others. The specimen from which 

 Mr. Edwards took the fisure of his female 



