LARINiE. 829 



an exhausted state. As it is a bird frequenting high latitudes, 

 its occurrence in tropical regions must have been quite exceptional. 



Sub-fam. Larin^e. 



Bill stout, curved at the tip, moderately long ; nostrils median, 

 long, narrow ; wings long ; tail full, even, or rounded, slightly 

 forked in a few ; tarsus moderately long, scutellated ; the hind toe 

 very short ; tibia naked below ; legs placed near the middle of 

 the body ; claws slightly hooked. 



Gulls are a well-known family of sea-birds of universal distribu- 

 tion, but more numerous in species in northern than in tropical 

 climates. Their toes are shorter than those of the Petrel family, 

 and better adapted for walking on land, which they are often seen 

 to do, especially during stormy weather, seeking for worms, crabs, 

 larvge, &c, &c, in ploughed land, or in damp meadows. They are 

 active and somewhat noisy birds, living upon fish, worms, &c., and 

 also on garbage of all kinds thrown out from ships, which they often 

 follow for miles. They swim, or rather float buoyantly about for 

 several hours daily, when not employed fishing, and occasionally 

 repose on some sand-bank. Many ascend rivers and are seen 

 hundreds of miles inland. 



They breed usually on rocky islands, or on sand-banks, laying- 

 three or four eggs on the ground. They have a double moult ; in 

 some groups the head becomes black or brown during the breed- 

 ing season, changing at the autumnal moult to grey or white ; 

 in others the head is pure white in summer, streaked in winter, 

 the young are some time before they acquire the adult plumage. 

 Some approach the Skuas and Petrels, and others the Terns. 



The sternum has a double emargination, very small and shal- 

 low, and occasionally converted into foramina. The tongue is 

 pointed with the tip cleft ; the oesophagus is capacious, the gizzard 

 small, becoming more muscular with age ; the intestines moderately 

 long, with two small coeca. 



Gulls have been much sub-divided of late, the divisions being 

 taken from the general form and tone of colouring. Bonaparte 

 divides them into — 



A. Lareai. Of large size ; no hood in summer, but with a few 

 spots or strite on the nape and the back of the neck. 



