3 7 o G U L L. 



likewife much weaker than thofe of the Gull, and the tail forked 

 at the end *, a circumftance not obferved in the laft genus. 

 Great uncertainty however is found in refpect to plumage in 

 both, arifing from the different ftages of life; and has occafioned 

 authors to confider many birds as [pedes, when the obfervations 

 of later times have been able to point out, that fuch variety has 

 arifen merely from difference in age or /ex. But much remains 

 to be afcertained on this head, as errors of this kind are only to 

 be removed by flow degrees, and reiterated obfervation. 



GREAT G. Larus i&hyaetus, Pall. Tr, ii. -App. N° 27. 



Description. C I ZE of the Bernacle Goofe, and fcmetimes even larger : weight 

 between two and three pounds. The bill of a dufky yellow 

 at the bafe ; towards the end crimfon ; the tip yellow ; near it 

 croffed with a dufky brown fpot : infide of the mouth red : irides 

 brown : the head and half the neck black : eye-lids white : the 

 back and rump pale grey: fecond quills the fame, but darker: 

 greater quills white; the firft five tipped with black: tail even at 

 the end, and white : legs reddifh brown. 

 Place. This fpecies inhabits the borders of the Cafpian Sea, and is a 



quite different bird from the black-headed Gull, being fo many 

 degrees larger in fize. It lays the eggs on the bare fand, with- 

 out the leaft preparation of a neft : they are in fhape of an ob- 

 long oval, marked with frequent brown fpots, with fome paler 

 ones intermixed. In flying has an hoarfe cry, fomewhat like that 

 of a Raven. 



• Great latitude flrould be given in refpeft to the young of the Tern ; as in, 

 fome fpecies the tail feathers, during that ftage of life, are' nearly even at the 

 ends. 



Larus 



