The great grey Gull Larus albo-cinereus torque cinereo.
Numb. LXXX1II.
IT S Weight was one Pound fourteen Ounces and a halfj Length, from the Point of
the Bill to the End of the Tail, twenty one Inches and a half; its Breadth, when
the Wings were extended, fifty three Inches ; its Colour on the Back and upper fide of
the Neck were grey mixed with whitiih and brown ; the Feathers on the Back are
black in the middle and aih-coloured about the Edges 5 the Rump Feathers incumbent
on the Tail are for the moil part white, only fpotted in the middle with brown ; the
'forepart of the Head, Throat, Bread, Belly, and Thighs were white.
Each Wing hath thirty Quill-Feathers of a dark brown, in fome black, the Ielier
Rows of wing Feathers were alfo brown; the Tail is fix Inches and a half long confiding
of twelve Feathers, the outmod Tips of the upper fide of which were white,
then fucceeds a crofs Bed or Bar of black of about two Inches broad, the under fide
is varied with tranfverfe Bars of a dusky Colour. 1
The Bill is almod three Inches long, all black, the upper Chap bending a little
downward and as it were hooked ; the lower, between the Angle and the Tip underneath,
bunches out into a Knob; the Nodrils oblong, the Eyes grey, the Neck ihorr,
the Head great, which in walking or danding dill it always draws down to us shoulders,
as do alfo all other Gulls; fo that one would think they had no Neck. -
Its Legs and Feet are of an orange Colour5 the Claws black, that of the middle Toe
iharp on the infide. • , . „ „ ' ' ", . , T u - n
It hath a huge Liver divided into two Lobes, a Gall annexed to the right Lobe. The
Stomach more mufculous than in carnivorous Birds; the blind Guts ihort but little, yet
turgid and full of Excrements. I . . ,
The Corniih Men relate for a Truth, that this Bird is wont to perfecute and terrify
the Sea-Swallows, and other fmall Gulls fo long till they mute for fear; and then
catches their Excrements before they fall into the Water, and greedi y devours them as
a great Dainty: but I rather believe, they take from them theFifh which they have be-
forl taken, caufing them to cad it up out of their Stomachs, which example I have
feen in the We/l-Indies, of the Bird called the Man of War and the Booby ; which lad as
foon as he has taken a Prey. the other perfecutes }fim till he has thrown it up, which
he catches in the Air immediately. ■'
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