L. capis•ratus, Tern. Brown .1.rasked Guli. A clear brown mask which terminates at the occiput ; length of the tarsus one inch and a half; outer quill feathers with white shafts Length thirteen inches four lines. Fre quents the coasts of England, Scotland. and the Orkneys? and ;las been traced to Davis' and Baffin's Straits. The eggs are somewhat smaller than those of the preceding, and of a greenish-cinereous colour, with darker spots.
L. minutus, Gmel. Lath. Little or Pigmy Gull. Length of the tarsus eleven lines ; shafts of the primary quills brown ; the wing-feathers tipt with pure white ; the legs, when extended. reaching only to three-fourths of the length of the tail ; hind toe very small, and furnished with an in conspicuous claw. Length ten inches two lines, conse quently the smallest known species of the tribe, being about the size of a thrush. Haunts the rivers, lakes, and seas of the eastern districts of Europe, and also the south ern parts of Siberia. It is an accidental passenger in Hol land and Germany, and has rarely been observed in Swit zerland. It abounds on the shores of the Caspian Sea, and is said to breed on the banks of the Wolga.
LEsTuts, Ill. Tern. STERCORAR1US, Briss. LARDS, Lin. &C. JAGER.
Bill middle-sized, hard, strong, cylindrical,sharp-edged, compressed, and hooked at the tip; upper mandible co vered with a cere, the lower forming a salient angle ; nos trils near the apex of the bill, diagonal, straight, closed behind; legs slender, naked above the knees ; tarsi long, the three anterior toes completely webbed, the hind one nearly obliterated, and on a level with those before ; claws large and much hooked ; tail slightly rounded, with the two middle feathers elongated ; wings of moderate size. The birds which compose this genus have been usually classed with the gulls, but they are much more bold and intrepid, persecuting the latter, and, compelling them to disgorge their food, catch it with great dexterity as it falls in the air. They likewise fasten on the carcasses of whales, which they lacerate and devour piece-meal, and have, moreover, recourse to shell-fish. Their principal abode is in the northern regions; and they may be distin guished, at a considerable distance, by their jerking and leaping mode of flight. There is no very marked or ob vious distinction between the sexes, but age imprints on their plumage very different shades of colouring, of which bistre-brown and white are the prevailing. The young
are very unlike the full grown individuals; but we may remark, once for all, that those of the first year may be easily discriminated by the slight elongation of the mid dle tail-feathers, by the rufous listing, and some irregular spots that terminate the feathers of the upper parts, and by the base of the toes and webs, which is always more or less white. In the mature state of the plumage the un der parts are either totally or partially of a pure white.
L. cataractes, Tem. Lams cataractes, Lin. Lath. Brown Jager, Brown, or Skua Gull, or Port Egmont Hen, Prov. Sea-Eagle, or Bonxie. Willoughby is mis taken when he calls it the Cornish Gannet. Shape and di mensions of the bill similar to those of the same part in the herring gull, the projecting tail feathers broad to the end, inconspicuous asperities on the hinder part of the tar sus, which is about two inches and a half in length. Length twenty or twenty-one inches. Inhabits Europe, Asia, and America, and is met with by navigators in the high lati tudes of both hemispheres, where it is much more com mon than in the warm and temperate parts of the globe. It occurs plentifully in Norway, Iceland, and the Faroe islands, and is met with in Shetland, but not in Orkney.
When observed out at sea, it is reckoned a stupid and in active bird, because it allows a boat to approach near it, without being apparently disturbed. When flying, the roots of the quills appear like a white spot, and the tail is spread out in the form of a fan. It is very fierce, either in pursuit of prey, or in defence of its young. A great portion of its subsistence is derived from the industry of other gulls, which it obliges to disgorge, measuring its strength with the larger sorts, and even driving away the eagle from its breeding quarters. Mr. Low and Mr. Bullock, who both, though at different periods, made an excursion to the heights of Foula in Shetland, bear ample testimony to the stout resistance which these birds make to invaders. In pouncing down on shepherds and others, who defend themselves with an iron-pointed stick, the skua gull is sometimes fatally transfixed.