250 L A 
native climates, fcarcely affedled by the change of tempe¬ 
rature. Ariftotle, who lived underalky infinitely milder 
indeed, remarked that the gulls and mews never difap- 
pear, but remain the whole year in the places of their na¬ 
tivity. The'fame obfervation holds with refpeft to Great 
Britain : for many fpecies of this bird are feen on our 
coafts, both in fummer and in winter. Every-where they 
are noted for their voracity and their difagreeable cries. 
Sometimes they keep on the low fliores; fometimes they 
retire into the cavities of the rocks, expeiling the waves 
to cart out their prey; often they attend the filhers, to 
pick up the refufe and garbage; and this habit is doubt- 
3 efs the only ground of the affeftion towards man, which 
the ancients afcribed to thefe birds. As their flelh is un¬ 
fit for eating, and their plumage of no value, they are 
neglefled by the fowler, and fuffered to approach without 
being fired upon. Their eggs, however, are efteemed 
good food. 
I. Nqftrils without a cere. 
1. Larus riffa, the kittiwake. Specific charafter, 
whitifn, back hoary; quill-feathers white; hind toe with¬ 
out a claw. Length fourteen inches : breadth three feet 
two inches. The bill yellow, tinged with green : infide 
of the mouth orange : head, neck, belly, and tail, fnow 
white : back and wings grey : the outer edge of the firft 
quill-feather, and the tips of the four or five next, 
black : legs cluIky, with only a knob inftead of a back 
toe. It inhabits the cliffs about Flamborough Head; the 
Bafs Ifle ; the vaft rocks near the caftle of Slains, in the 
county of Aberdeen ; and Prieftholm I/le. It is likewife 
met with at Newfoundland ; and in Greenland, Spitzber- 
gen, Iceland, and the north of Europe; the arftic coaft 
of Alia; and Kamtfchatka. By the Icelanders it is called 
ritfa. Some confider this as the young or the female of 
the following. 
2. Larus tridaftylus, the tarrock, or fpotted mew: whitifh; 
back fomewhat hoary ; tail-quills, except the outermoft, 
tipt with black; feet three-toed. Length fourteen inches; 
breadth thirty-fix; weight feven ounces. Bill fhort, 
thick, and black ; head, neck, and under parts, white ; 
near each ear, and under the throat, a black fpot ; at the 
bind part of the neck a crefcent of black; the back and 
fcapulars bluifh grey; the wing-coverts dufky, edged with 
grey; fome of the larger wholly grey; the exterior fides 
and ends of the firft four quills black; tips of the two 
next black ; all the reft white; the ten middle feathers of 
the tail white, tipped with black; the two outermoft 
wholly white; legs dufky afh-colour; in lieu of the back 
toe, it has only.a protuberance. This breeds in Scotland, 
and inhabits other parts of northern Europe, quite to 
Iceland and Spitzbergen, the Baltic, and White Sea, as 
alfo Kamtfchatka- It is common in Greenland in fum¬ 
mer; comes in f’pring, and frequents the fea fliores : it 
builds in the rocky crags of the bays ; in June lays two 
eggs, of a greenifh afh-colour, fpotted with brown ; and 
retires from the fliores in autumn. It is obferved fre¬ 
quently to attend the whales and feals, for the fake of the 
fifh which the laft drive before them into the fhallows, 
when thefe birds dart into the water fuddenly, and make 
them their prey. They are very noify birds, efpecially 
during the time of incubation. They fwim well, and fly 
equally, and for a long time together; and are often ob¬ 
ferved on portions of ice f'wimming in the fea. Both the 
flefii and eggs are efteemed by the Greenlanders, and the 
fkins are uled as garments. 
/ 3 . L. major. This variety is nineteen inches in length ; 
bill two inches and a quarter long, colour black; head 
and neck white ; on each ear a fpot of black ; at the 
lower part of the neck behind, each feather has a dufky 
black bar juft at the tip; the back and wing-coverts of a 
fine pale afh-colour; from the bend of the wing to the 
tip of the fecond quills is a bar of black, appearing ob¬ 
lique when the wing is doled; this bar is caufed by molt 
of the feathers in the diredion being tipped with that co¬ 
ll u s. 
lour; the four firft quills are black, but the inner web* 
are white ; the two next white, with a black mark clofe 
to the tips; the reft white; fecondaries white, with a ftripe 
of black near the fhaft, and parallel to it; tail white; all 
but the outer feathers tipped for one inch with black; 
kgs dufky ; the hind claw wanting. It inhabits Kamtf¬ 
chatka. This feems to be the tarrock in the higheft ftate 
of markings, and of a larger fize than ufual.—There is a 
fiecond variety, in which the markings are much lei's dif- 
tinft, with the addition of fome clouds of black below the 
nape. Both are in the poffeffion of fir Jofeph Banks. 
3. Larus minutus, the little gull : fnovvy ; bill red'd ilh 
brown; irides bluifh; head anil beginning of the neck 
black; the reft of the neck and body white; back and 
wings grey; tail even, and white ; legs red. It inhabits 
the fouthern parts of Ruffia and Siberia ; and is found 
about the fliores of the Cafpian Sea, and the rivers which 
fall into it; migrating in fummer northward up the Wolga, 
in order to breed. Size of a thrufli. 
4. Larus hybernus, the winter-mew : cinereous, be¬ 
neath fnowy, back of the head, and the fides of the neck, 
fpotted with brown, back cinereous ; the firft of the wing- 
quills black; the tail marked with a black bar near the tip. 
Length eighteen inches, breadth three feet fix inches 
weight feventeen ounces. The bill is flender, two inches 
long, horn-colour, with a black tip, and bends at the 
end ; irides hazel. This fpecies is very common in Eng¬ 
land, and is obferved to be met with farther inland than 
any of the others. It is confidered by fome as a variety 
of the comynon gull. See the annexed engraving, fig. 1. 
5. Larus eburneus, the ivory gull : entirely white ; bill 
and legs lead-colour. Length fixteen inches; breadth 
thirty-leven. Bill two inches long, and lead-coloured, 
with a pale tip; orbits faffron-colour ; the wings very 
l«ng, exceeding the tail greatly, and even the legs, when 
at length. The young are marked with oblong black 
fpots, efpecially on the back and wings, with the bill 
black. This fpecies feems to prefer the mod northern 
fituations, inhabiting both coafts of Greenland ; and are 
met with far at fea, leldom approaching the land, except 
in the time of incubation ; but are then fufficiently tame, 
fo as to be (hot without difficulty, whereas at fea they are 
very Ihy. They frequent the Frozen Sea, between Afia 
and America, and Cape Denbigh; and were met with 
by our late voyagers at Oonalaffika. It was faid likewife 
to inhabit Hudfon’s Bay ; but, if fo, it mull vary confi- 
derably in fize; one deferibed by Mr. Hutchins meafured 
twenty-feven inches and a half in length, and was five 
feet in breadth : the bill and legs flefti-colour; irides 
ftraw-colour; the plumage of a beautiful fnowy white, 
except a few of the tail-coverts, which were barred with 
dufky. This, he obferves, is fcarce along the coafts, but 
more plenty in the iflands and inland lakes, where it 
makes a flight neft on the ground, of dry grafs, and lays 
four white eggs. The young are blackifli, and the old 
ones do not become perfectly white under three years. 
6. Larus canus, the common gull, or fea-mew: white; 
back hoary. This is in length fixteen or feventeen inches; 
thirty-fix inches broad ; and weighs one pound. The 
bill yellow; irides hazel; eye-lids brown; head, neck, 
under parts of the body, and tail, white ; back and wings 
pale grey ; the outer edge of the four firft quills, and tips 
of the firlt five, black; but the fourth and fifth have a 
white fpot at the tips ; the reft, except the three neareft 
the body, have the ends white. This feems to be the 
motft common of all the gulls, being found in vaft num¬ 
bers on our fliores and rivers which are contiguous to the 
fea. Its difagreeable cry gave it the name of mew, from 
miauler, Fr. to fquall like a cat; whence the Englilh verb 
to mewl, and the name of thefe birds mall, in many places. 
It occurs north as far as Iceland and the Ruffian lakes : 
is likewife met with in the neighbourhood of the Cafpian 
Sea, on various fliores of the Mediterranean, and as far 
fouth as Greece : it is found alfo in America, on the coaft 
of Newfoundland. It breeds on the rocks and cliffs, like 
others 
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