likewife much weaker than thofe of the Gull, and the tail forked
at the end*, a circumftance not obferved in the laft genus.
Great uncertainty however is found in refped to plumage in
both, arifing from the different ftages of life; and has occafioned
authors to confider many birds as fpecies, when the obfervations
of later times have been able to point out, that fuch variety has
arifen merely from difference in age or fex. But much remains
to be afcertained on this head, as errors of this kind are only to
be removed by flow degrees, and reiterated obfervation.
t.
GREAT G.
Description.
Larus i&hysetus, Pall. Tr. ii. App. N° 27.
g IZE of the Bernacle Goofe, and fometimes even larger: weight
between two and three pounds. The bill of a dulky yellow
at the bafe ; towards the end crimfon ; the tip yellow; near it
crofted with a dulky brown fpot: infide of the mouth red : irides
brown : the head and half the neck black : eye-lids white: the
back and rump pale grey: fecond quills the fame, but darker:
greater quills white; the firft five tipped with black: tail even at
the end, and white : legs reddilh brown.
Place. This fpecies inhabits the borders of the Cafpian Sea, and is a
quite different bird from the black-headed Gull, being fo many
degrees larger in fize. It lays the eggs on the bare fand, without
the leaft preparation of a neft: they are in lhape of an oblong
oval, marked with frequent brown fpots, with feme paler
ones intermixed. In flying has an hoarfe cry, fomewhat like that
of a Raven.
* Great latitude Jhould be given in refpedt to the young of the Torn; as in
fome fpecies the tail feathers, during that llage of life, are nearly even at the
ends.
Larus
Larus marinus, Liu. Syjl. i. p. 225. 6.— T*«». Suee. N* £jrw* N* 145.
—.Muller, N° 163.
Le Goiland noir, Bri/ Orn. vi. p. 1 $S.-*-Bu/. Oif. viii. p. 405. pi. 31.—
PI. EnL 990.
Great black and white Gull, Rail Syn. p. 127. A. 1 .'—Will. Orn. p. 344.
pi. by.—Albin, iii. pi. 94.
Black-backed Gull, Br. Zool» ii. N® z\z%-*-Flor» Scot. i. pi. fig. 2.—
Arft. Zool. N° 451.
Lev. Mu/.
1~ E N G T H twenty-nine inches ! breadth five feet nine inches:
weight near five pounds. The bill is very ftrong and thick,
and almoft four inches long; thé colour a pale yellow; but the
lower mandible is marked with a red fpot, with a black one in
the middle : irides yellow : edges of the eye-lids orange : head,
neck, whole under fide, tail, and lower part of the back, white:
upper part of the back and wings black: quills tipped with
white: legs of a pale flelh-colour.
Mr. Pennant obferves, that he has met with, on the coaft of
■ Anglefea, a bird that agrees in all refpefts with this, except in
fize; in wanting the black fpot on the bill j and in the colour of
the legs, which were of a bright yellow : the extent of the wings
only four feet five inches: length twenty-two inches: weight
half a pound; and that the fame has been fhot at Buljlrode in
Backinghamjhire. One of thefe, Ihot on the Thames near me,
meafured full two feet in length.
This fpecies inhabits feveral parts of England, and brééds on
the higheft cliffs. The egg is blunt at each end ; of a dufky
olive-colour-; quite black at the greater end ; and the reft of it
J B 2 thinly
4- BLACK-
BACKED G.
Description,
Place and
Manners.