DUNG HUNTER. 



143 



FEMALE AND YOUNG. 



Larus crepidatus, Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 602. sp. 20. — Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 819. sp. 

 14. — Cataracta cepphus, Rail, Syn. p. 129. 11. — Temm. Orn. Bor. 36. p. 126. 

 —Black-faced Gull. Lath. Syn. 6. p. 387.— Br. Zool. 2. No. 441. t. 86.— Arct. 

 Zool. 2. No. 460.* 



Provincial. — Dung- Bird. Teaser. Dirty- Allen. Badock. N. Sliui. 



The length of this species is about twenty-one inches. The bill is 

 an inch and a half long-, pretty much hooked, and of a dusky colour ; 

 nostrils placed in a kind of cere ; the top of the head is black ; the sides, 

 forehead, neck, and under parts of the body, are white ; across the 

 breast there is a pale dusky bar ; the upper parts of the body, wings, 

 and tail, are black ; the base of the quills, white on the inner webs ; the 

 two middle feathers of the tail are four inches longer than the rest ; 

 legs black and scaly : another specimen had the sides of the head, neck, 

 and throat, buff colour ; the breast white, shaded with grey, becoming- 

 dark slate colour on the belly. 



This, like all the genus, is liable to vary in plumage according- to 

 age. In some the white parts are mixed with brown, and the black 

 parts dusky brown ; the middle feathers of the tail also very little longer 

 than the rest. 



The female is said by some to be entirely brown, palest beneath ; 

 others assert this sex to be like the male, which is most probable, and 

 that the brown variety is only young birds in their first feathers. This 

 bird is not uncommon in the Hebrides and in the Orkneys, where they 

 breed amongst the heath, appearing in May, and retiring in August. It 

 has been met with as far south as Yorkshire, but is a rare species in the 

 southern parts of Great Britain, and only accidentally occurs. It is 

 said to make a nest of dry grass and moss in some marshy place, and 

 lay two eggs, the size of those of a hen, ash-coloured or very light 

 brown, spotted with black or dark-brown blotches. 



This and other species of gulls pursue the lesser ones, not for the 

 sake of their dung, as some have asserted, but to make them disgorge, 

 which they catch with great dexterity before it reaches the water. 



It is to be remarked that all this tribe are voracious, and if pursued 

 by a hawk or other bird that creates alarm, it readily disgorges in order 

 to lighten itself, and escape by flight. It is no uncommon thing to see 

 them bring up a large quantity of half-digested food when slightly 

 wounded by shot : tame gulls will do the same if driven by a dog. 

 Gulls float lightly on the surface of the water by reason of the quantity 

 of feathers in proportion to their weight, and seem incapable of diving. 

 If they are wounded ever so slightly, and fall in the water, they never 

 attempt to dive like other aquatic birds. 



