the GULL, in ornithology, a genus belonging to the order of anseres, the characters of which are these: The bill is straight, cultrated, a little crooked at the point, and without teeth; the inferior mandible mandible is gibbous below the apex; the nostrils are linear, a little broader before, and situated in the middle of the back. There are 11 species, principally distinguished by their colour. The most remarkable species are, 1. The marinus, or black-backed gull. The weight of this species is near five pounds; the length 29 inches; the breadth five feet nine. The bill is very strong and thick, and almost four inches long; the colour a pale yellow; but the lower mandible is marked with a red spot, with a black one in the middle. The head, neck, whole under-side, tail, and lower-part of the back, are white; the upper-part of the back, and wings, are black; the quill-feathers tipped with white; the legs of a pale flesh-colour. This kind inhabits our coasts in small numbers, and breeds in the highest cliffs. It feeds not only on fish; but, like the raven, very greedily devours carrion. Its egg 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. On the coast of Anglesea is found a bird that agrees in all respects with this except in size, in wanting the black spot on the bill, and in the colour of the legs, which in this are of a bright yellow: the extent of wings is only four feet five; the length only 22 inches; the weight one pound and a half. This species, or perhaps variety, rambles far from the sea, and has been shot at Bullrode, in Middlesex.

2. The catarractes, or skua gull. The length of this singular gull is two feet; the extent four feet and a half; the weight three pounds: the bill two inches one-fourth long, very much hooked at the end, and very sharp: the upper mandible covered more than half-way with a black cere or skin, as in the hawk-kind: the nostrils placed near the bend, and are pervious. The feathers on the head, neck, back, scapulars, and coverts of the wings, are of a deep brown, marked with rust-colour (brightest in the male). The breast, belly, and vent, are ferruginous, tinged with ash-colour. The tail when spread is circular, of a deep brown, white at the root, and with shafts of the same colour. The legs are covered with great black scales: the talons black, strong, and crooked; the interior remarkably so.

This bird inhabits Norway, the Ferroe isles, Shetland, and the noted rock Foula, a little west of them. It is also a native of the South Sea. It is the most formidable gull; its prey being not only fish, but, what is wonderful in a web-footed bird, all the lesser sort of water-fowl, such as teal, &c. Mr Schroter, a surgeon in the Ferroe isles, relates that it likewise preys on ducks, poultry, and even young lambs. It has all the fierceness of the eagle in defending its young; when the inhabitants of those islands visit the nests, it attacks them with great force, so that they hold a knife erect over their heads, on which the skua will transit itself in its fall on the invaders. The Rev. Mr Low, minister of Birsay in Orkney, confirmed part of the above account: On approaching the quarters of these birds, they attacked him and his company with most violent blows; and intimidated a bold dog of Mr Low's in such a manner, as to drive him for protection to his master. The natives are often very rudely treated by them, while they are attending their sheep on the hills; and are obliged to guard their heads by holding up their sticks, on which the birds often kill themselves. In Foula it is a privileged bird, because it defends the flocks from the eagle, which it beats and pursues with great fury; so that even that rapacious bird seldom ventures near its quarters. The natives of Foula on this account lay a fine on any person who destroys one: they deny that it ever injures their flocks or poultry; but imagine it preys on the dung of the arctic and other larger gulls, which it persecutes till they moor for fear.

3. The parasiticus, or dung-hunter. These birds are very common in the Hebrides. Numbers of them are found in Jura, Ilay, and Rum, where they breed in the heath; if disturbed, they fly about like the lapwing, but soon alight. They are also found in the Orkneys, where they appear in May, and retire in August. It is also found on the coast of Yorkshire, where it is known by the name of Egger. All writers who mention it agree, that it has the property of pursuing the lesser gulls so long, that they moor for fear, and that it catches up and devours their excrements before they drop into the water; from which the name. Linnaeus wittily calls it the parasite, alluding to its forlorn life.

The length of this species is 21 inches: the bill is dusky, about an inch and a half long, pretty much hooked at the end, but the first part is covered with a sort of cere. In the male, the crown of the head is black: the back, wings, and tail, dusky; but the lower part of the inner webs of the quill-feathers white: the hind part of the neck, and whole under-side of the body, white: the tail consists of 12 feathers, the two middlemost near four inches longer than the others; the legs black, small, and scaly. The female is entirely brown, but of a much paler colour below than above; the feathers in the middle of the tail are only two inches longer than the others. Linnaeus has separated this from its mate, his larus parasiticus, and made it a synonyme to his larus cata-ractes, a bird as different from this as any other of the whole genus.

4. The fusca, or herring-gull, weighs upwards of 30 ounces; the length 23 inches, its breadth 52; the bill yellow, and the lower mandible marked with an orange-coloured spot: the back, and coverts of the wings, ash-coloured; the upper-part of the five first quill-feathers are black, marked with a white spot near their end; the legs of a pale flesh-colour. These birds breed on the ledges of rocks that hang over the sea; they make a large nest of dead grass, and lay three eggs of a dirty white, spotted with black. The young are ash-coloured, spotted with brown. They do not come to their proper colour the first year: this is common to other gulls; which has greatly multiplied the species among authors, who are inattentive to these particulars. This gull is a great devourer of fish, especially of that from which it takes its name: it is a constant attendant on the nets, and so bold as to seize its prey before the fishermen's faces.

5. The navius, or wagell. These birds vary much in their size: of those examined by Mr Pennant, one weighed 3 lb. 7 oz. the length was two feet two inches, the breadth five feet six; others again did not weigh two pounds and a half. The irides are dusky; the bill black, and near three inches long. The whole plumage plumage of the head and body, above and below, is a mixture of white, ash-colour, and brown; the last colour occupies the middle of each feather; and in some birds is pale; in others dark: the quill-feathers black; the lower-part of the tail is mottled with black and white; the legs are of a dirty white. Some have supposed this to be the young of the preceding species, which (as well as the rest of the gull tribe) scarce ever attains its true colours till after the first year: but it must be observed, that the first colours of the irides, of the quill-feathers, and of the tail, are in all birds permanent; these differ in each of these gulls so greatly, as ever to preserve unerring notes of distinction. This species is likewise called by some the dung-hunter, for the same reason as the last is styled.

6. The winter-gull weighs from 14 to 17 ounces: the length 18 oz., the breadth three feet nine. The irides are hazel: the bill two inches long, but the slenderest of any gull; it is black at the tip, whitish towards the base. The crown of the head, and hind-part and sides of the neck, are white, marked with oblong dusky spots; the forehead, throat, middle of the breast, belly, and rump, are white; the back and scapulars are of a pale grey, the last spotted with brown; the coverts of the wings are of a pale brown, edged with white; the first quill-feather is black, the succeeding are tipped with white; the tail is white, crossed near the end with a black bar; the legs of a dirty blueish white. This kind frequents, during winter, the moist meadows in the inland parts of England, remote from the sea. The gelatinous substance, known by the name of star-blot, or star-gelly, owes its origin to this bird, or some of the kind; being nothing but the half-digested remains of earth-worms, which these birds feed on, and often discharge from their stomachs.

7. The canus, or common gull, is the most numerous of the genus. It breeds on the ledges of the cliffs that impend over the sea; in winter they are found in vast flocks on all our shores. They differ a little in size. One examined by Mr Pennant weighed 12 ounces and a half: its length was 17 inches, its breadth 3½; the bill yellow; the head, neck, tail, and whole under-side of the body, a pure white; the back, and coverts of the wings, a pale grey; near the end of the greater quill-feathers was a black spot; the legs a dull white, tinged with green.

8. The rissa, or kittiwake. The length of this species is 14 inches, the extent three feet two. When arrived at full age, the head, neck, belly, and tail, are of a snowy whiteness; behind each ear is sometimes a dusky spot; the back and wings are grey: the exterior edge of the first quill-feather, and tips of the four or five next, are black; the bill yellow, tinged with green; inside of the mouth orange; legs dusky, with only a knob instead of the back-toe. It inhabits the romantic cliffs of Flamborough-head (where it is called petrel), the Bays isle, the vast rocks near the castle of Slains in the county of Aberdeen, and Priestholm isle. The young of these birds are a favourite dish in North-Britain, being served up roasted, a little before dinner, in order to provoke the appetite; but, from their rank taste and smell, seem much more likely to produce a contrary effect.

9. The ridibundus, pewit, or black-head gull. These birds breed in vast numbers in the islands of certain pools in the county of Stafford; and, as Dr Fuller tells us, in another on the Essex shores; also in the fens of Lincolnshire. They are birds of passage; resort there in the spring, and after the breeding season disperse to the sea-coasts; they make their nest on the ground, with rushes, dead grass, and the like; and lay three eggs of a dirty olive-colour, marked with black. The young were formerly highly esteemed, and numbers were annually taken and fattened for the table. Plott gives a marvellous account of their attachment to the lord of the soil they inhabit; inasmuch, that, on his death, they never fail to shift their quarters for a certain time. Whitelock, in his annals, mentions a piece of ground near Portsmouth, which produced to the owner 40l. a-year by the sale of pewits, or this species of gull. These are the sea-gulls that in old times were admitted to the noblemen's tables.

The notes of these gulls distinguish them from any others, being like a hoarse laugh. Their weight is about 10 ounces; their length 15 inches, their breadth 3½; their irides are of a bright hazel; the edges of the eye-lids of a fine scarlet; and on each, above and below, is a spot of white feathers. Their bills and legs are of a sanguine red; the heads and throats black or dusky; the neck, and all the under-side of the body, and the tail, a pure white; back and wings ash-coloured; tip and exterior edge of the first quill-feather black, the rest of that feather white, the next to that tipped with black, and marked with the same on the inner web.