Sea Birds , The difference between these tiny weights and
those of sea birds is naturally considerable. In fact there is no purely land bird, in England, which can approach the weight of the cormorant, which weighs seven or eight pounds. But the weights among sea-birds generally are, still surprising. You would expect a common gull, with a wing-span of three feet, to weigh a little more than sixteen ounces, and a kittiwake, with an even larger wing-span, to exceed fourteen. A herring- gull has a wing-span of almost four and a half feet, but weighs less than two pounds. A common tern weighs only four ounces, a manx shearwater seventeen. By contrast, a red, throated diver, having a wing-span roughly that of the common gull, weighs three times as much. A guillemot goes roughly a pound and a half, an -nysterzcatcher just over a. pound, but a turnstone only four.- ounces. It is interesting to note that, according to Morris, the swan puts these and all- other English birds into the shade completely. He gives the weight of the male as thirty pounds. But 'other observers disagree with this. They declare the Swan to be an astonishingly light bird, that can be tucked under the arm, if the wines are tightly held, as easily as a Cockerel.
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