267 .

GULL.

THERE are a number of different species of gulls, or
sea-gulls, as they are commonly called, many of
them very common on the English coasts. Among
these may be enumerated the greater black-backed gull,
the lesser black-backed gull, the kittiwake, the herring
gull, and the black-headed gull.

In this genus, “the bill is strong and straight, but
bent downwards at the point; the nostrils are pervious,
oblong, and narrow, and placed in the middle; the lower
mandible has an angular prominence on the under side,
“which tapers towards, and forms its tip. The body is
clothed with a great quantity of down and feathers,
which, together with the large head and long wings, give
these birds an appearance of bulk, without a propor-
tionate weight. The legs are small, naked above the
knees; feet webbed, with the back toe detached, and
very small.

This genus, which some naturalists have described as
consisting of about nineteen species, besides a few vari-
eties, is numerously dispersed over every quarter of the
world; and is met with, at certain seasons, in some
parts, in multitudes. Their eggs are gathered by the
inhabitants in prodigious numbers. They assemble
together in a kind of straggling mixed flocks, consisting
of various kinds, and greatly enliven the beach and rocky
cliffs by their irregular movements, whilst their shrill
cries are often deadened by the noise of the waves, or
the roarings of the surge. They occasionally take a
wide range over the ocean, and are met with by navi-