BRITISH BIRDS. 
23^ 
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TARROCK. 
( Lartis trldaBylus^ Lin . — La Mouette cendrh tachefh^ BufF.) 
This bird is fomewhat lefs than the Kittiwake. 
The bill is black, fliort, and ftrong : the head, neck, 
breaft, belly, and tail are all white, with the excep- 
tion of the tips of ten of the middle feathers of the 
tail, a fpot on the auriculars, another under the 
throat, and a crefcent-fliaped patch on the hinder 
part of the neck, all of which are black : the back 
andTcapulars are of a bluilh grey : lefler coverts of 
the wings deepifh brown, edged with grey : fome of 
the greater covert feathers are of the fame coloirl, 
and others of plain grey : the outer webs and ends 
of the firft four quills, and the tips of the next two, 
are black ; all the reft are wholly white : the legs 
are of a dingy afli-colour : the hinder toe, like that 
of the ICittiwake, is only a kind of fmall, and appa- 
rently ufelefs, protuberance. 
The habits and manners of thefe birds are the 
fame as thofe of the Kittiwake : they are met with 
in the fame countries, and at the fame breeding 
places, from Greenland to Scotland and its ifles. 
They leave the fea-ftiores in autumn, and fpread 
themfelves over the northern ocean, maldng, it is 
faid, the floating ifles of ice their chief refting places. 
In the fpring they return to the rocky crags to 
breed ; and in the month of June the female hijs 
