OCR Text |
Show / 412 AVES. birds which swarm along the sea coasts, feeding on fish, the flesh of d:ad bodies, &c. They breed in the sand, or in clefts of rock, laying but few eggs. When they fly into the country, bad weather may be expected. Several species are found on the coast of France, and, as their plumage is greatly changed by age, the number has been still more increased. When young, they are usually spotted with grey. Buffon calls GoELANns,(l) The large species whose size exceeds that of a Duck. One of the largest is, Lar. marinus and nrevius, Gm.; Goidand a manteau noir, Enl. 990 and 266 (The Great Black-backed Gull), which, at first spotted with white and gt·ey, afterwards becomes all white, with a black mantle; the bt:ak is yellow, with a red spot underneath; feet, reddish. Lar. glaucus, Gm.; Burgomeatre; N aum. Ed. I, 36, is nearly as large, and only differs ft·om it in the mantle, which is a light ash colour. Its young also are spotted.(2) The MAuvEs or MouET'rEs Are the smallest species. Lar. fuscua, L.; Lar. flavipes, Meyer, Frisch, 218; Naum. Ed. I, f. 51, B. (The Silver Gull.) Is all white; the mantle excepted, which is black; the feet are yellow. Lar. cburneus, Gm.; Mouette blanche, Enl. 994.. (The Ivory Gull.) All white, with black feet. From Spitzbcrg and Green· land: sometimes wanders into Europe. Lar. cyanorhynchus, Meyer; Mouette a pieds bleus, Enl. 977, Briss. VI, xvi, 2. (The Common Gull.) When old, of a beauti· ful white, with a light ash coloured mantle; the primary quills of the wing partly black, with white spots at their tips, the feet and bilJ, lead coloured. Feeds on shell fish. Lar. ridibundus, L.; L. hybernus, and L. erythropus, Gm.; La M. a pieds rouges, Enl. 969 and 970; Briss. VI, xvii, 1. Is very similar to the preceding, except that when young the tip of the tail is black, and that there are some black and brown on the wing: in spring the head of the adult becomes brown, and re· ( 1) Goeland, a corruption of Gull, Gull-ent. (2) M. Temminck distinguishes the Lar. argentatm, Lath. Enl. 253.-Add the Goeland leucomele, Vieill. 61, and the Goel. a tete noire du Bengale. [Add L. ca· pistratus, Temm. ;-L. canus, 1 •. Enl. 977;-L. argentatus, Brunn. Enl. 253;-L· argentatoides, Brehm. .!J.m.Ed.] PALMIPEDES. 413 mains so during the summer-Enl. 970; the fe'et and beak are more or less red. It has been called, from its note, the Laugh-ing Gull.( 1) • ~ar. tridac.tylus, and Lar. rissa, Gm.; LaM. a trois doigts, Br1ss. VI, xv1, 1, and xvii, 2, is also very similar to the preceding species, but may be distinguished by its very short and imperfect thumb. When young it is more or less spotted with black or brown, Enl. 387. LESTRis, Illig. (2)-STEROORARIUs, Briss.-LADBEs, Buff. These birds have very properly been separated from the Common Gulls. Their membranous nostrils, larger than those of the latter, open nearer to the point and edge of the beak; their tail is pointed. They pursue the small Gulls with singular ferocity to rob them of their food, and, as it is said, to devour their excrement. Hence their name. Lar. parasiticus, Gm.; Labbe a longue queue, Enl. 762; Edw. 148. (The Arctic Gull.) A deep brown above, white beneath; the two middle quills of the tail are double the length of the others. It is very rare in France. When young it is all brown, and is then the Lar. crepidatus, Gm.; Enl. 991, or better, Edw. 149.(3) The arctic regions produce a species the size of a Goeland, which is brown, with the base of the wing-quills white, Lar. cataractes, Gm., Brit. Zool. pl. L., 6; and another the size of a Mouette, brown above, white underneath, with a brown collar on the breast, the Lestris pomarinus, Tern.( 4) STERNA, Lin.(5) The Terns, or Sea-Swallows, derive this latter appellation from their excessively long and pointed wings and from their forked tail, (1) AddLar. atricilla, Pall. Nov. Com.Pctr., XV, xxii, 2;,Catesb., I, 89; Wils. IX, Ixxiv, 4, by the name of ridibundm,--Lar. leucoptr:rus,--L. cirrlwcepltalus, Vieill. Gal. 289, or poliocephalus, Licht.;-L. leucophtlwlmus, Licht. Col. 366;-L. Sabini, Leach;-L. minutus, Falk. Voy. III, xxiv;-L. melanurus, T. Col. 459, and Tiles, Voy. de Kruienst., pl. lvii. (2) AHr>plr, thief, the name of these birds among the Swedish fishermen. VieilIot has changed these names to STEnconEus. (3) This is clearly a mistake. The L. r:repidatm, Brehm. is identical with the L. Bujfonii, Boie, Enl. 762. .!J.m. Ed. (4) I cannot affirm the identity of the Le8tris catarracte8, Freycin., 38, and of the Stercoreus pomarinm, Vieill. Gal. 288, with the above species. • (5) Stern, or Tern, is their English name, latinized as above by Turner, and ad-mitted by Gesner. ' |