420 LARIDÆ.
the bill, "which, oh missing the objebt' aimed at, close with a
snap. Some which I kept several days refused all kinds of
food, became dull and languid, and at length died. While
hovering over us near Their nests, these-bitds emitted a low
querulous murmur, and, if unmolested, would attempt , to
alight oh. ohr.heads. After'a few visits * however* jth ey became
rather more careful of themselves, although the' sitting
birds'often suffered .us to put a habover them! .This 'species*
incubates both day and bight.’’ •• ;■
Dr. Latham, in'his Synopsis, Observes that-thisxbird is said
to breed in.’the Bahama Islands, laying thé eggs ion the. bare
rocks ; .on thé Roca Islands, and various parts, ofithe jttoas't
of Brazil, and Cayenne.. Catésby, in his. Natural History of
Carolina, mentions having-seen this bird more than ^hundred
leagues from land. According;, tb Mr. Collie’s iiïötfes,1; this-
specie's was seen in the Pacific a t several'different ,places, at
various seasons of jh e year, as mentioned in the.volume /de^
voted to the Zoology of Captain ; Beechey’s voyage in-"the"
Blossom, p. 8 8 .
; In the adult bird; the bill is black, from the base of the; bill
to the eye.is also black; ifirdes^Jirówn ; the forehead and
crown buff col oVr; occiput smoke-gre^>hhe whole. of the
body abovè and ’below and all the wing-coverts dark choco-i
fete-brown a primaries and tail-feathers brownish-black; legs, '
toes, membranes, and claws black. The whole’.length of. (he.
specimen here figured and described fourteen inches and a
half to the end of thé tail, which is; graduated, the middle
pair-of feathers being the longest; the wing, from the carpal
joint to the end of the first quill-feather-ten-inches and'a
half.
SABINE S GULL.
SABINE’S GULL.
'M/Orut IH Sabine’s Gull, viFenyns, l^rif, Vert, p. 270.
Xema ,, — ,, Xeme, , Eyton, Rare/Brit. Birds,p. 64.
r „ ,, _ ,, Gull, GouLDj Birds of Europe, pt. xxi.
Larus Sabinei, Mouette de Sabine, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. vol. iv. p. 488.
Lab tjs: Generic^ CharcSBers!—Bill of moderate length, strong, hard, compressed,
cutting, slightly curved towards the point, lower mandible shorter than
the upper, ..jjh.e symphisis apgular, prominent. Nostrils lateral, near'the middle
of the beat, pierced longitudinally, pervious. Legs slender, lower part of the
tibiae naked, the tarsus long, three toes in front entirely palmated, the hind toe
free, short, articulated high up on tfiVtarihs above the line of the other toes.
-VVings . long, the first quill-feather nearly^as long as the secqnd, which is the
longest in the wing. Tail square at the end or slightly forked.
The pfominemt. angle at the symphisis of the under mandible
the extent of the palmated membrane between the
toes,'- and the almost- square tail observed, more or . less, in
Some of the Terns-indicate a degree of connection with the
Gulls; and the Gull here first inserted, by its slightly-forked