THE GULL. 
225 
indulged ourselves, on tliis occasion, with the most 
consolatory assurances, that the same Hand which 
had provided this solace to our distresses, would ex- 
tricate us from the dangers that surrounded us,” 
We come next to the numerous class of Gulls, 
a class which the sailor is sure to find wherever he 
goes, whether under the burning sun of the tropical 
regions, or the frozen icebergs of the Arctic circle, and 
always bearing the same restless, noisy character. 
THE BLACK-BACKED GULL. 
They have been named, and justly so, the scavengers 
of the sea, for nothing comes amiss to their voracious 
appetite : loathsome as may be the putrefying car- 
rion left on the beach, to the Gull it is just as ac- 
ceptable as a meal on the finest and freshest fish. 
On either they will gorge almost to suffocation ; and 
in that state may be taken up torpid and insensible. 
VOL. IT. Q, 
