252 



HERRING GULL. 



Belon mentions it as one of the extraordinary feats performed by the 

 divine king-, Francis I., that he formed two artificial heronries at Fon- 

 tainebleau, — " the very elements themselves," he adds, " obeying the 

 commands of this divine king- (whom God absolve ! ! !); for to force 

 nature is a work partaking- of divinity." 1 In order to enhance the 

 merits of these French heronries, he undertakes to assert, that they 

 were unknown to the ancients, because they are not mentioned in any 

 of their writing-s ; and for the same reason he concludes that there are 

 none in Britain. Before Belon's time, on the contrary, and before the 

 " Divine" constructor of heronries in France was born, there were 

 express laws enacted in England for the protection of Herons, it being a 

 fine of ten shillings to take the young out of the nest, 2 and six shillings 

 and eight pence for a person without his own grounds, killing a Heron, 

 except by hawking, or by the long-bow; 3 while in subsequent enact- 

 ments, the latter penalty was increased to twenty shillings, or three 

 months' imprisonment. 4 At present, however, in consequence of the 

 discontinuance of hawking, little attention is paid to the protection of 

 heronries, though, I believe, none of the old statutes respecting them 

 have been repealed. Not to know a hawk from a Heronshaw (the 

 former name for a Heron) was an old adage, which arose when the 

 diversion of Heron-hawking was in high fashion : it has since been 

 corrupted into the absurd vulgar proverb, " not to know a hawk from 

 a handsaw." 5 



HERRING GULL (Larus fuscus, Linnjeus.) 



Larus fuscus, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 225. 7. — Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 599. 7. — Ind. Orn. 2. p. 

 815. 8. — Larus cinereus maximus, Raii, Syn. p. 127. A. 2. — Will. p. 262. — 

 Larus griseus, Briss. 6. p. 162. 3. — lb. 8vo. 2. p. 405. — Gavia grisea, Briss. 6. 

 p. 171. 6. — lb. 8vo. 2. p. 407 — Le Goeland a manteau gris brun, Buff. Ois. 8. 



p. 379.— Herring Gull, Br. Zool. 2. No. 246. t. 88.— Ib. fol. 141 Arct. Zool. 



2. No. 452 — Lath. Syn. 6. p. 372. 3 Will. (Angl.) p. 345.— Lewin's Br. 



Birds, 6. p. 7.— Wale. Syn. 1. t. 113. — Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 18. 



This species weighs about thirty-three ounces ; length twenty-three 

 inches ; bill yellow ; on the lower mandible a reddish-orange spot ; 

 irides light yellow; orbits red. Head, neck, tail, and under parts, 

 white ; back, scapulars, and wing coverts, ash-colour ; quill-feathers 

 dusky, the five first black towards their ends, with a white spot near 

 the tip ; legs pale flesh-colour. 



The young are at first mottled all over with brown and dirty white ; 



1 Oyseaux, p. 189. 2 19 Henry VII. chap. 71. 3 Ibid. 4 1 James, chap. 27. s. 2. 

 5 Pennant, Brit. Zool. ii. 341. Vulgarities of Speech corrected, p. 704. Architecture 

 of Birds. Chapter on Platform Builders, p. 181. 



