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 II!); for to force 
nature is a work partaking of divinity.” ^ 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 writings ; 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,- and six shillings 
and eight pence for a person without his own grounds, killing a Heron, 
except by hawking, or by the long-bow; ^ while in subsequent enact- 
ments, the latter penalty was increased to twenty shillings, or three 
months’ imprisonment.'^ 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have been repealed.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.”^ 
HERRING GULL (Larus fuscus, Linnaeus.) 
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. — Ib. 8vo. 2. p. 405. — Gavia grisea, Briss. 6. 
p. 171. 6. — Ib. 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. — Lewhis 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 ; quiU-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 ; 
* Oyseaux, p. 189. ^ 19 Henry VII. chap. 71. ^ Ibid. 1 James, chap. 27. s. 2. 
® Pennant, Brit. Zool. ii. 341. Vulgarities of Speech corrected, p. 704. Architecture 
of Birds. Chapter on Platform Builders, p. 181. 
