GULISTAN, grs7le-stlin• (Pers., rose-garden). The most famous work of the Persian poet Sadi (q.v.), a collection of moral discussions inter woven with stories, puns, and maxims. It is contained in eight chapters in prose and verse. There are English translations by Eastwick (Hertford, 1852) ; Gladwin (Boston, 1865) ; and Sir Edwin Arnold (London, 1899).
GULL (from Corn. gullan, Welsh gwylan, Bret. gwelan, gull). A web-footed bird of the subfamily Larinte, of the family Lnridle. The gulls are inhabitants of the seacoasts of all parts of the world, and also of the shores of large rivers and lakes far inland. The bill ig strongly hooked at the tip, thus differing from that of the terns, and lacks a core, in this respect dif fering from that of the jilgers. The tail is usual ly square across the tip, and the wings are long and pointed. The plumage is generally in great part white, variously mixed with gray, slate color, brown, and black. The white in some species assumes a rosy tint in the breeding sea son, and the head of some becomes black. The differences of plumage, according to age, season, and sex, are very considerable, and have led to many errors as to species. Gulls have great power of wing, and delight in performing varied and beautiful evolutions. They descend with great rapidity to seize prey from the surface of the water, or at a small depth; but they are not good divers, and the fishes caught are chiefly those which, like the herring, swim near the sur face. They are very voracious. Their food con sists of almost anything animal, and they fre quently rob other birds' nests of eggs or young. In winter they throng harbors, and feed largely on scraps thrown from ships or drifted upon the shores. The larger gulls seize clams and other mollusks, carrying the large ones into the air and dropping them upon a rock in order to break them. The flesh of gulls is rather coarse, but that of the young is in request on many northern coasts as an article of food, and is salted for winter use. The eggs are palatable, and are collected in great quantities in some places. All gulls are wholly or partially migratory; they breed in colder regions than those which they inhabit in winter. In general, they lay only two or three eggs, which are large for the size of the bird, bluish-white to brownish olive in color, more or less heavily spotted, blotched, and marked with brown, black, and purplish. The nest is composed of moss and seaweeds, or marsh-weeds, and is usually on the ground in swamps or on rocky cliffs. Occasion ally, however, the nest is built in trees, and is then based on a foundation of sticks.
About 50 species of gulls are known, of which about 26 are found in North America. The com monest and most widely distributed are the ring billed gull (Lams Delawarensis) and the herring gull (Lams . argentatus, var. Smithsonianua). The latter is two feet long and nearly five feet across the wings, while the former is considerably smaller. Both species are abundant on the Atlantic coast, in the Mississippi Valley, and about the Great Lakes. They breed from the United States northward. The kittiwake (Rissa tridaetyla). rather smaller than the first named. gray and white, and destitute of a hind toe, is plentiful in Arctic America and Europe, where the coast is girt with rocky precipices, on the narrow ledges of which it makes its nest. Its young and eggs are among the chief objects of pursuit of the rock-fowlers. The great black hacked gull, or `wagell' (Larus mar-inns), nearly thirty inches long, is found on the Atlantic coasts of both Europe and America; and the glaucous gull, or 'burgomaster' (Larus °Mucus), scarcely inferior to it in size, of a pale bluish-gray color above and white below, is a winter visitant from the Arctic regions.
On the Pacific coast of North America, the common gulls are the glaucous-winged gull (Lams glauccserns), the California, gull (Larus Californietts), and the western herring gull ( Lams oecidentalis), all large birds, four feet and a half across the wings. Smaller than these is the white headed gull lleermaitni), which is lead colored, with a white head and red bill; it is common on the coast of California. Other notable gulls are the common mew (Lams calms) of Europe; the red-legged kittiwake (lasso breri rostris) of Bering's Sea; the Arctic ivory gull (barns alba), the entire plumage of which is pure white; the black-headed gulls of Europe and America. (Larus ridibundus and atrieilla); Franklin's and Bonaparte's rosy gulls (Larus Pranklini and Philadelphia), the white under parts being suffused with rose during the breed ing season ; Ross's rosy gull ( khodostethia rosea) , which has a Ivedge-shaped tail. and is white, rosy tinted, with a black collar, and occurs only in the most northern regions; and the forked-tail gulls (Xema Sabinii and furcatus), the former Arctic and common, small, the latter tropical, very rare, and large. Terns, boobies, and various other marine birds are often very improperly called gulls. Consult Saunders, "Revision of the Lari ama," Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, (London, 1878). See Plate of Auxs, ALBATROSSES, ETC.