G U L L.
Afia and America, and off Cape Denbigh *. Met with by our
late voyagers at Aoonalaßka-\. Said likewife to inhabit Hud-
fon’s Bay ■, but, if fo, it mud vary confiderably in fize: one de-
fcribed to us by Mr. Hutchins meafured twenty-feven inches and
a half in length, and was five feet in breadth. The bill and legs
flelh-colour: irides ftraw.-colour : the plumage of a beautiful
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 iftands and inland lakes, where it makes a flight neft
on the ground, of dry grafs, and lays four white eggs. The
young are blackilh, and the old ones do not become perfectly
white under three years,.
8.' Larus canus, Lin. Syß. i.. p. 224.. 3*.— Faun. Suer. N° 153.— IBoßelq. Voy.
4- COMMON G. p_ 272. 3g.— Scop. Ann. i. N° 104.— Brun. NS..141.—Muller, N° 162.
— Georgi Keife, p. 170.
La Mouette cendree, Brif. Orn. vi. p. 175« 8* pi* i6. fig* i*
La grande Mouette. cendree, Brif Orn. vi. p. 182. iö. pi. 16. fig. 2. Buf^
Oif. viii. p. 428.— Pi. Enl. 977*
Common Sea Mall, or Mew, Raii Syn. p. 127. A. 3.-—Will. Orn, p. 345.
pi. 76.
White web-footed Gull, Albin, ii* pi. 84*
Common Gull, Br. Zool. ii..N° 249. pi. 89. fig. 2.— Arbi. Zool. N° 458.,
Lev. Muf.
Description. T ^ H I S is in length fixteen or feventeen inches: is thirty-fix
inches broad: and weighs one pound. The bill yellow:
* Br. Zool.— A Gull (now-white, with black along the upper fides of the
wings, found by our laß voyagers, in N'oolla. found. See Coot’s laß Fey. J»
P-3 52- ' ’ ■ ■
t MM Harr. p. 15.252— 267,
irides
G U L L 379
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 firft five, black j but the
fourth and fifth have a white fpot at the tips j the reft, except
the three neareft the body, have the ends white: the legs dull
greenifh white *.
Thefe birds differ a little in their markings: in one, which
weighed twelve ounces, and was feventeen inches in length, the
head, and half the neck, were marked with fhort dufky ftreaks:
the ends of the firft five quills black 5 the outer one deepeft ; the
tips of all white ; but the two firft had a bar of black near the
tip ; all the others like the back, with the ends white : in other
things like the above-defcribed. This was fhot on the Thames in
February, and was very lean.
This feems to be the mod common of all the Gulls, being found
in vaft numbers on our fhores and rivers which are contiguous to
the fea. Seen alfo very far north, as far as Iceland, and the Ruffian
lakes: is likewife met with in the neighbourhood of the Cafpian Sea,
in various fhores of the Mediterranean; and as far fouth as Grefee :
is found alfo in America, on the coaft of Newfoundland f . It breeds
on the rocks and cliffs, like others of the genus -, and the eggs are
two inches and a half in length ; of a deep olive brown, marked
with irregular deep reddifh blotches J. It is a tame fpefies, and
may be feen by hundreds on the fhores of the Thames and other
* In the laß quoted bird of Brijfon, the legs are faid to be red, otherwife it
does not materially differ from the firft.
f Arbi. Zool.
X The eggs are two in number, the fize of thofe of a Hen.—Dec. Ruff. I.
p. 249.
3 C 2 | rivers,
Place and
Manners