LARUS CANUS. 
COMMON GULL, 
Generic Character. See Larus marinus. 
Synonyms. 
Larus Can us. Lin. Syft, i. p. 224. 3. 
Common Gull,, Br. ZooL 2. 249. tab, Sg,/oL 2. Lath^ 
Syn. 6. p, 378. 8. Mont. Orn. Di^. 
Bewick's Br. Birds^ Pt. 2. p, 197. 
HIS fpecies is in length about feventeen inches, iri 
breadth about three feet, and weighs near llxteen ounces. We 
feel confiderable difficulty in giving the fpecific chara£lers 
of this genus ; the diPcInguifhing marks are fcarcely to be 
defcribed, as they confift of fiich trifling minutia, that it is 
only on the aggregate the fpecies can be fixed. The different 
plumage thefe birds affume at their different periods of age, 
has occafioned confiifion in the works of raoft ornithological 
writers, in many inftances fpecies have been formed from 
the fame bird at different ages ; the accur cy of our figures 
We hope will confiderably affift in difiinguifhing the fpecies, 
as they will be generally coloured from birds of mature 
age. 
Mr. Montague, to whofe refearches we have fo often referred, 
has perhaps taken more pains to elucidat this fubjefl than 
any other perfon, having kept the different fpecies till they 
have 
