Larus. BIRDS. PALMIPIDES. 189 



size. Those which have white heads in summer, have 

 those parts slightly streaked with dusky in winter. Those 

 which have black heads in summer have white heads in 

 winter. The Young are two or three years in reaching 

 maturity 



1. Larger gulls ; exceeding 20 inches in length. 

 * Quills white. 



223. L. glaucus. Burgomaster. — Length 30, breadth 63, 

 of the tarsus 2^'gth inches. 



Fab. Faun. Groen. 100 Sabine, Linn. Trans, xii. 543 — New species of 



Larus, Edmonston, Wern. Mem. iv. 176. Scor. Arct. Reg. i. 535 — 

 Temm. Orn. ii. 757 A winter visitant. 



Bill 3 inches long, horn coloured, the symphysis of the lower mandible 

 bright reddish orange. Irides and orbits yellow. Legs livid flesh-coloured. 

 Plumage white ; the back, scapulars, and wing-covers ash-grey. In winter, 

 the neck is mottled with brown. Female less — Nest among grass on the shore. 

 Eggs 3, pale, with brown spots. Young, mottled, uniformly light brown and 

 white ; the whole bill lead-coloured. This species is rapacious, yet shy. It 

 was first ascertained as a winter visitant of Zetland, by Laurence Edmonston, 

 Esq. surgeon, Unst, in 1814 — It has since been detected on various parts of 

 the coast, but it retires to the Arctic Regions during the breeding season. 



224. L. islandicus. Iceland Gull. — Length 24, breadth 53, 

 tarsus 2 \ inches. 



L. argentatus, an arctic var., Sabine, Linn. Trans, xii. 546. — Temm. Orn. 

 ii. 764. L. Isl. Edmonston, Wern. Mem. iv. 506 — A winter visitant 

 of Zetland. 

 Bill about 2^ inches long ; rather slender. Plumage similar to the pre- 

 ceding. The wings, however, in this species, reach a little beyond the tail ; 

 while, in the glaucus, they only reach to the end of it. The young are distin- 

 guished from those of the preceding, by their dimensions, size of the bill, and 

 paler plumage. Captain Sabine and M. Temminck agree in considering this spe- 

 cies as the L. argentatus, deprived of the black markings on the quill-feathers, 

 by its residence in an arctic climate. The absence of any direct proof, or 

 even analogy, induced me, six years ago, to reject this conclusion as unwar- 

 rantable (Edin. Phil. Journ. vol. ii. 274) ; nor have subsequent proofs, of any 

 value, been brought forward. Captain Sabine, it is true, states a fact (App. 

 Parry's first voy., cciv.) which he considers as confirming Mr Temminck's 

 decision ; though, in reality, it only proves the occurrence of the Herring- 

 Gull on the same cliff with the Islandicus : — " Amongst a number of the 

 Greenland variety, which had their nests on a cliff on one of the Georgian 

 Islands, one individual was observed to have black markings on the wings, 

 and was fortunately secured. On comparing this specimen with birds which 

 have been killed on our own coasts, the black markmgs of the quill-feathers 

 are found to correspond precisely in shape and situation ; the only perceptible 

 difference being, that the dark colour is not quite so deep in shade in the Po- 

 lar as in the European varieties." Mr Edmonston first recognized this spe- 

 cies as a winter visitant of Unst, the most northerly of the Zetland Isles. It 

 is there confounded, by the natives, with the Burgomaster, under the name 

 of Iceland Gull, or Iceland Scorie, though Mr Edmonston notices its greate r 

 elegance and delicacy of form and its livelier and more active habits. 



