GYRFA.LCON. 235 



coloured, but the coverts of the wings still retain brown and white 

 mottled feathers. In this state it has long- been considered as a dis- 

 tinct species, and called the Winter Mew, or Gull. We shall here 

 remark, that too much caution cannot be observed with regard to this 

 tribe of birds ; none perhaps have puzzled the naturalist more from 

 the variation in plumage at different ages. 



All the gulls found in this country are more or less mottled for the 

 first year, and some probably do not arrive to maturity till the third or 

 fourth year, which we can speak of as a fact, from having kept them 

 on purpose to ascertain this point. 



*We have had this species alive for some years, and observed that 

 when it had attained its full mature plumage, in the second year, the 

 head and neck are pure white during the summer, but, like the herring 

 gull, those parts become streaked and spotted with brown, in the 

 autumn, which is continued all the winter, and in the spring become 

 again pure white. In defect of fish or worms, it will, when pressed 

 by hunger, pick up grain. 



It is almost inconceivable that so small a bird should be able to stow 

 within its body an eel of a foot in length, but it is a fact we have fre- 

 quently witnessed. None of the tribe seem to disgorge more readily 

 on being alarmed than this ; no effort appears requisite, but a reversion 

 or contraction of the stomach takes place if in the least frightened, 

 and the complete meal is regurgitated, and as speedily swallowed again 

 when the fright is over.* 



This is one of the most plentiful species found on our coast. They 

 breed upon the ledges of the rocks close to the sea-shore, sometimes 

 not far above the water. We saw some hundreds sitting on their nests 

 in an island off St. David's, the nests were made of sea-weeds, and were 

 placed nearly together, about fourteen feet from the beach. 



The eggs were two or three in number, of a dull olive-brown, 

 blotched with dusky, the size of a small hen's. When disturbed they 

 are exceedingly clamorous, and not much alarmed by being shot at. 

 They are frequently seen in winter, at a considerable distance from the 

 coast, and in severe weather they flock with the rooks. They follow 

 the plough for the sake of the larvae of the chaffer, (Scarabceus Melo- 

 lontha,) and of worms. The young are brown, mottled with white, 

 the tail having a brown bar near the end ; the white commences in the 

 second year, and the spots on the wing and the bar on the tail gra- 

 dually disappear. 



GYRFALCON.— A name for the Jer Falcon. 



