GENUS XXIX.-THE GULL-KIND.

Gen. Char.-Bill strong, straight, but bending down at the point, on the under part of the lower mandible an angular prominency; nostrils oblong and narrow, placed in the middle of the bill; tongue a little cloven; body light; wings long; legs small, and naked above the knees; back toe small.

Species 1.-The Great Black and White Gull.

Wil. Orn. 344. Raii Syn. Av. 127. Larus marinus, Lin. Sys. 225. Brit. Zool. 416. Sib. Scot. 20. Orc. Blackbacked-Maw, Swartback.

THIS is the largest of the gull-kind which is found in these seas, or round the whole country. It continues here the whole year; builds on the insulated rocks round the shores, and sometimes on the shelves. It is very ravenous, as much so as an eagle, only it meddles not with lambs or poultry, but for carrion and garbage none is more so. It beats away the smaller gulls from any fish which may happen to be thrown ashore, and seizes the whole prey to itself; but if it misses of this, sits down contentedly to a piece of dead horse if it can get it.

In bulk it almost equals a goose; the length, from the point of the bill to the end of the tail, two feet three inches, but if measured to the claws it is two feet five; when the wings are extended it is five feet three inches from tip to tip. The beak of one I measured was something more than three inches long, very strong, and much hooked at the point; on the

the lower mandible is a large angular knob, which is black towards the opening of the mouth, but reddish below, the colour of the rest of the bill was a pale yellow; the nostrils were long, and broadest toward the point of the bill; the head was large, and on the crown a few ash-coloured spots; the neck to the shoulders, the breast, and belly white; the back and wings black; the quill feathers were all tipt with white; the rump white, with twelve spotted feathers in the tail; the legs were bare above the knee for a small space, as in the others of the kind, of a pale flesh-colour inclining to white; the claws black.

I never saw its egg, but Mr Pennant tells us it is very blunt at each end, of a dusky-olive colour, quite black at the greater end, and the rest of it thinly marked with dusky spots.

I know not if there is any variety with red feet which Linnæus describes his with; mine, too, had a few ash-coloured spots on the head which Mr Pennant's has not, but this might have been owing to difference of sex or age, as there is no genus of birds perhaps which passes through more changes of colour than the gull-kind, which seldom arrive at their colour the first year.

Species 2.-The Arctic Gull.

Brit. Zool. 420. Brit. Zool. Illus. 35. tab. 22. Faskidar, Mart. West. Isles, 73. Larus parasiticus, Lin. Sys. 226. Orc. Scouti-Aulin.

THIS is a migratory bird, comes in May and departs with the sea-swallow, or great tern. I suppose it builds with the rest of the tribe in the rocks *, though I never saw its nest, but it continues here the whole breeding-time.

It seems this gull can make little shift for itself, being hindered by some natural defect or laziness, for it always makes the others its providers. It is most commonly on the wing, and wherever it sees a flock of others a-fishing, it hovers about till it sees something caught, upon which it immediately sets out in chace of the captor, and never leaves tormenting it till it drops the prey, which the other always catches before it reaches the water. Even when it has it in its stomach it is not safe, for all the gulls, upon being frightened or teased, are apt to throw up what is in their stomachs, which I have often seen upon shooting a gull; it would vomit up a quantity of worms or whatever else was in its belly. The parasitic gull is acquainted with this, and if he misses prey the other way, torments the first he can get on, till in this manner he receives the fruit of his toil; but notwithstanding the opinion of many

snipe.

It builds in moorish grounds, and among heath, with the lapwing and the
AUTHOR.

very

eminent natural historians, I cannot think the excrement of one congenerous bird can be the food of another; but this is only a private opinion.

Species 3.-The Skua.

Our Cataracta, I suppose the Cornish Gannet, Wil. Orn. 348. Raii Syn. Av. 128. Cataractes, Sib. Scot. tab. 14. Sea Eagle, Hist. Fife, 46. Larus Cataractes, Lin. Sys. 226. Brit. Zool. 417. Foula, Bonxie.

THIS Gull we have not in Orkney, neither had I ever an opportunity of seeing it till last summer I met with it in Foula, an island to the westward of the Shetland Isles.

As I approached the summits of the high mountains, I came near the skua's quarters, which are affixed on the very peaks. I no sooner approached but I was attacked with so great fury, that every one of those who were with me, as well as myself, were obliged to do him obeisance at every stroke. He beat my dog entirely out of the pit, insomuch that he was obliged to run in among our legs for shelter, and could not be forced out again, for though bonxie (as he is here called), had some regard for us while we kept together, on him he had no mercy, every whip he fetched him made his own wings crack, and the dog crouch into the hollows of the moor, till we came up and relieved him. I followed one of them to some distance from the rest, which made me part good company, and received some very rude salutes for my imprudence

from three of these birds that made at me with the utmost rage. I defended myself the best way I could with my gun, fired several times at them, but, as none dropped, the report did not startle them in the least, rather seemed to enrage them the more. When the inhabitants are looking after their sheep on the hills, the skua often attacks them in such a manner that they are obliged to defend themselves with cudgels held above their heads, on which it often kills itself.

The method of life is much the same as in the parasitic gull (our former species), only this attacks the larger kind of gulls as the other does the lesser. By the most minute inquiry, could not find that it ever meddled either with its congeners or others to destroy them. Its fury seems to be more defensive than offensive. When we meet it at sea it seems to be a stupid like bird, and often swims within an oar's length of the boat.

In Foula this is a privileged bird, no man will nor dare shoot it, under the penalty of sixteen shillings and eightpence sterling, nor destroy its eggs. When they meet it at sea whatever fish they have in the boat skua always get a share, and all this out of gratitude for beating off the eagle, who dares not venture to prey on the island during the breeding season. Skua, indeed, is not so strong as the former, but much more nimble, strikes at him without mercy with such effect that he makes the eagle roar aloud, and his retreat is so sudden as to avoid all danger from his clumsier antagonist.

I asked particularly whether skua did not sometimes pay himself for defending their flocks, by taking a lamb now and