252 L A 
the body as in the glaucous gull; lower part of the pri¬ 
maries greyifh, upper black, tips white. Inhabits Nor¬ 
way. In the Britilh Mufeum, there is one very much 
like the above; length near fixteen inches; bill one inch 
and a half long; quills marked as in the other, but the 
two firft have the ends tipped with white for near an inch, 
the others only juft a fpot ; but only fix of the prime 
quills had the ends black. This is fupprefied by Dr. Tur- 
ton, being probably the fame as the preceding. 
15. Lanas atricilla, the laughing gull: wliitifh ; head 
blackifii ; bill red ; legs black. Length eighteen inches ; 
breadth three feet. The male and female are alike in an 
adult ftate ; therefore that mentioned by Brilfon as the 
female, having a cinereous head, and the forehead and 
throat fpotted with white ; as alfo that in the Peterlburgh 
Tranfadtions, of a let's fize, with the head fpotted black 
and white; are without doubt young birds. This fpe- 
cies is found in Ruflia, on the river Don, particularly 
about Tfchercalk. The note refembles a coarfe laugh, 
whence the name of the bird. It is met with alfo on the 
continent of America ; and is very numerous in the Ba¬ 
hama Iflands and Cayenne. It likewife frequents Hud- 
ion's Bay ; it comes there in May, and makes the neft in 
the-pine-trees ; lays four lead-coloured eggs, and departs 
fouth in September; it feeds on filh and worms. 
16. Larus atricilloides, the Siberian gull: body reddilh- 
white ; head, orbits, and neck, black; back and wings 
cinereous ; legs fcarlet. Inhabits the fait lakes of Siberia ; 
fixteen inches long. 
17. Larus ridibundus, the black-cap, or pewit: whitiih; 
head blackiih ; bill and legs pale red. The names of this 
and the atricapillus have been ftrangely confounded ; they 
differ chiefly in the colour of the legs, which in the pre- 
lent fpecies are red, in the other black. Length fifteen 
inches; breadth three feet; weight ten ounces. The 
black-cap, or pewit, breeds on the fliores of many of our 
rivers, and in the inland fens of Lincolnfhire, Cambridge- 
ihire, and other parts of England. They make their nefl 
on the ground, with ruihes and dead grafs; and lay three 
eggs,of a greenilh brown, marked with red-brown blotches. 
After the breeding-feafon, they again difperfe to the lea- 
coafts. They breed alfo in Northumberland and Scot¬ 
land, and are found throughout Ruflia and Siberia, as far 
as Kamtfchatka, bat not farther to the north. They win¬ 
ter at Aleppo in great numbers, and are there fo tame, 
that the women are faid to call them from the terraces of 
their houfes, throwing up pieces of bread, which theie 
birds catch in the air. They alfo inhabit North Ame¬ 
rica, coming into New England in May, and departing 
in Auguft. The young birds, in the neighbourhood of 
the river Thames, are thought good eating, and are called 
red-legs. 
We fliall tranferibe Dr. Plott’s account of the manner 
of catching the pewits in the 17th century in Stafford- 
fnire. After relating fome marvellous ftories refpefting 
their attachment to the lord of the manor, he thus pro¬ 
ceeds : “ Being of the migratory kind, their firlt appear¬ 
ance is not till the latter end of February, and then in 
number icarcely above fix, which come as harbingers to 
the reft, to fee whether the hafts, or iflands, in the pools, 
(upon which they build their nefts,) be prepared for them ; 
but thefe never fo much as alight, but fly over the pool, 
icarcely flaying an hour : about the 6th of March follow¬ 
ing, there comes a pretty confiderable flight of an hun¬ 
dred, or more, and then they alight on the hafts, and flay 
all day, but are gone again at night. About our Lady- 
day, or fooner in a forward fpring, they come to flay for 
good, otherwife not till the beginning of April, when 
they build th£ir nefts, which they make not of flicks, but 
heath and ruihes, making them but (hallow, and laying 
generally buk four eggs, three and five more rarely, which 
are about the bignels of a fmall hen-egg. The hafts, or 
iflands, are prepared for them between Michaelmas and 
Chrittmas, by cutting down the reeds and ruihes, and 
putting them afide in the nooks and corners of the hafts, 
R U S. 
and in the valleys, to make them level ; for, (hould they 
be permitted to rot on the iflands, the pewits would not 
endure them. After three weeks fitting, the young ones 
are hatched, and, about a month after, they are almoft 
ready to fly, which ufually happens on the 3d of June, 
when the proprietor of the pool orders them to be driven 
and caught, the gentry coming from all parts to fee the 
fport. The manner is thus : They pitch a rabbet-net on 
the bank-lide, in the molt convenient place over-againfl: 
the hafts, the net in the middle being about ten yards 
from the tide, but clofe at the ends, in the manner of a 
bow ; then fix or feven men wade into the pool, beyond 
the pewits, over-againft the net, with long ftaves, and 
drive them from the hafts, whence they all fwim to the 
bank-fide, and, landing, run like lapwings into the net, 
where people are Handing ready to take them up, and 
put them into two pens, made within the bow of the net, 
which are built round, about three yards diameter, and a 
yard high, or fomewhat better, with fmall flakes driven 
into the ground in a circle, and interwoven with broom 
and other raddles. In this manner there have been taken 
in one morning fifty dozens at a driving, which, at five 
(hillings a dozen, (the ancient price of them,) comes to 
12I. 1 os. but at feverai drifts that have been anciently 
made in the fame morning, there have been as many taken 
as have fold for 30I. fo that fome years the profit of them 
has amounted to 50I. or 60I. befides what the generous 
proprietor ufually prefents his relations and the nobility 
and gentry of the county withal, which he conflantly does 
in a plentiful manner, fending them to their houfes in 
crates alive; fo that, feeding them with livers and other 
entrails of beads, they may kill them at what diftance of 
time they pleafe, according as occafions prefent theml'elves, 
they being accounted a good difli at the mod plentiful 
tables. But they commonly appoint three days of driv¬ 
ing them, within fourteen days, or thereabouts, of the 
ad or 3d of June ; which while they are doing, fome have 
obferved a certain old one that Teems to be fomewhat 
more concerned than the reft, being clamorous, and Itrik- 
ing down upon the heads of the men; which has given 
ground of l'ufpicion, that they have fome government 
among them, and that this is their prince that is fo much 
concerned for its fubjeCts. And it is further obferved, 
that, when there is great plenty of them, the Lent-corn 
of the country is much the better, and the cow-paftures 
too, by reafon they pick up all the worms and the fern- 
flies, which, though bred in the fern, yet nip and feed on 
the young corn and grafs, and hinder their growth.” 
The pools of Stafford fit ire, which the pewits frequented, 
were Pewit Pool in the parilh of Norbury, and Sebben 
Pool in the parilh of High Offiey. Plott's Nat. Hijl. of 
Staffordjhire, p. 232. 
II. Ncjlrils covered with a cere. 
18. Larus paraliticus, the arclic gull : two middle tail- 
feathers very long. Bill an inch and a half long, pretty 
much hooked, and of a dulky colour. The top of the 
head is black ; the fides of it, forehead, neck, and all be¬ 
neath, white : acrofs the bread: a pale dulky bar: the up¬ 
per parts of the body, wings, and tail, biack : the bafe of 
the quills white on the inner webs; the two middle fea¬ 
thers of the tail are near four inches longer than the reft: 
legs fcaly, and black. This is a northern fpecies: is very- 
common in the Hebrides, and breeds on heath ; comes in 
May, and retires in Auguft: if dilturbed, it flies about, 
like the lapwing, but foon alights. Is alfo found in the 
Orkneys, and on the coafts of Yorklhire, where it is called 
the feafer. It inhabits the northern coafts of Sweden, 
Denmark, and Ruflia, as far as Kamtfchatka ; and is com¬ 
mon in Greenland, where it frequents the open fea, as far 
as the bays. The female makes an artlefs nefl of grafs 
and mofs, on a hillock in fome rnarlhy place, and lays two 
alh-coloured eggs, fpotted with black, the fize of thofe of 
a hen. It does not often fwim, and flies generally in a 
flow manner, except it bein-purfuit of other birds; which 
