The Hijiory of ANIMALS, 451 
The neck is fhort, but it appears much fhorter than it really is in the creature's ufual 
pofture, for it has a way of linking the head, as it were, between the fhoulders j all 
the birds of this genus have more or lefs of this, but none of them nearly fo much 
as this fpecies: the back is of a very elegant grey colour, mottled with white, and 
with a tinge of brown diffufed over it: the bread and belly are of the fame colour, 
only it is paler; there is more of the white, and indeed very little of the brown in it: 
the wings are large, and their principal feathers are very beautifully variegated with 
white, grey, and brown, more diftin&dy placed than in the other parts: the rump is 
paler than the reft of the back, and the feathers which immediately cover the tail are 
white, only that they have a few fpots of brown on them : the tail itfelf is grey, brown, 
and white. 
The legs are moderately long, and they are fomewhat robuft; they are of a very 
pale colour, whitilh only, with a faint tinge of brown or olive : the toes are long, and 
the feet are webbed, only the hinder toe is very fhort and inconfiderable. 
This is a native of moft of our fea-coafts, and of thofe alfo of moft other parts of 
Europe. Many of the writers on birds have defcribed it. Ray and Willughby call 
it Larus cinereus major; and Aldrovand feems to mean it by his Lams albo-cinereus 
torque cinereo. We call it the great, grey Gull, and, in Cornwal, the Waggel. 
The Venetians call it Martinoze, and the Dutch, by a name expreffing the Burgo- 
mafter of Greenland, 
Larus fufco et grifeo fuperne variegatus , inf erne albus . 
c The Larus , with a hr own and grey hack , and a white 
hreaft . 
%\)t CoMi? 
This is of the fize of the common carrion-crow : the head is large, and is depref* 
fed on' the crown, and conliderably flatted or compreffed at the fides: the eyes are 
large, and have a bright and piercing afpedt; their iris is of a fine, elegant hazel, and 
the pupil of a deep black : the beak is about an inch long, and of a pale whitifh- 
brown colour: the upper chap is arcuated, and moderately hooked; the lower chap has 
that protuberance, which is the characteriftic of this genus, very large and confpicu- 
ous: the tongue is long, white in colour, and bifid at the extremity. 
The head is white, variegated very elegantly with fpots of brown : the neck is fhort 
and thick, and is brown : the middle of the back is of a dufky iron grey, but to¬ 
ward the fides it is of the fame brown with the neck : the breaft and belly are white 
as fnow; the rump alfo is whitifh, with only a little admixture of brown, and fcarce 
any grey: the wings are large, and,when expanded, have a great deal of white in them: 
the principal feathers are white, variegated, in different proportions, with dark grey 
and pale brown: the tail is moderately long, and is principally white, but darker at 
the fides, and toward the end, than elfewhere. 
The legs are moderately long and robuft ; they are of a pale whitifh-grey, but with 
a tinge of greenifh or olive colour thrown over them : the feet are webbed, and the 
toes are long, excepting the hinder one, which is fhort and inconfiderable. 
This fpecies is very frequent in our fen countries; we have it in great plenty in 
Lincolnfhire, where the fhooting them is a great diverfion among the country 
gentlemen. They fly high, and it is fometimes dirhcult to kill the firft ; but, after that, 
it is but leaving the dead bird upon the ground, and they gather in numbers about it: 
in defetft oft this, they fometimes lay a white handkerchief careleflly folded together 
on the ground, and the birds are tempted to come near, under a^n opinion of it’s being 
a hurt companion. 
Many of the authors have omitted to defcribe this fpecies, though fo frequent not 
only with us, but in many other parts of Europe. Ray and Willughby however have 
mentioned it; they call it Larus fulcus five hybernus, in agio Cantabrigienfi Coddy 
Moddy vocatus. 
Larus 
