8G DUBLIN NATURAL HISTOET SOCIETY. 



APRIL 27, 1855. 



ON THE HjkBITS AND ON THE VARIETIES OF SOME OF THE LABID^. BY 



J. WATTER8. 



At the last meeting of your Society a paper was read by your Honorary Se- 

 cretary, Mr. Andrews, which contained a notice of one of the Xemaj, or Black- 

 headed Gulls, which coincided very closely with the measurements and descrip- 

 tions of Bonaparte's Gull (Larus Bonapartii). At the suggestion of Dr. Farran, 

 I have put together some notes on the habits of the Laridae, and on varieties in- 

 cident to the family, which, with some specimens to illustrate my observations, 

 I beg to submit for your approval. In the entire range of our Irish Fauna there 

 is no family comprised in it which demands more notice from the ornithologist 

 than the well-known and widely-distributed family of the Laridae. Tenanting 

 every variety of shore, sandy beach as well as precipitous rocks, the study of their 

 habit.<) not alone affords interest to the observer, but offers a criterion and an 

 infallible index to the fisherman that where they most do congregate fish is plen- 

 tiful. Simple as their habits may appear, I feel my own incompetency in endea- 

 vouring to create in your minds the interest with which the birds of this family 

 are invested. Indeed, it must appear to the ordinary observer as something very 

 strange, that these mere sea-gulls, flying past him along our quays, could pos- 

 sess habits of the slightest interest. But to any one who has observed them in 

 the neighbourhood of some rocky shore line, where story after story of rocks 

 take their position along the precipices, on whose tabular projections stand 

 not in tens or hundreds, but in thousands and tens of thousands, the various 

 members of this interesting tribe, there is almost an injunction conveyed in the 

 sight, that the ornithologist is bound to make known that such things exist. On 

 several occasions I have been fortunate enough in observing a great proportion 

 of the species comprised in the Laridse at their breeding haunts ; amongst those 

 I may mention the great and lesser black-backed gulls, the herring gulls, com- 

 mon gull, and kittiwake. Widely differing in their habits from the great and the 

 lesser black-backed gulls, we find the bustle and ceaseless activity of the smaller 

 species replaced with a sedateness and dignity consistent with their appearance. 

 Flying sedately from a crag in the neighbourhood of the nest, they employ them- 

 selves in sailing leisurely through the air, often at an immense height; at times 

 their loud, hoarse cackle comes distinctly from above, and is at once answered by 

 a continuous kleeking or yelping note from their partner on the nest. Fre- 

 quently we observe single birds rise from the rocks, and fly in a direct line sea- 

 ward for an immense distance, and then quietly settle down upon the water. 

 Occasionally we see pairs testing on the water in the vicinity of the rocks, the 

 tail being held so high, from the peculiar buoyancy of the bird, that often at a 

 distance it is difficult to determine which is the head and which the tail. When 

 flying from the sea, the great black-backed gull never hesitates passing through 

 a flock of terns, or herring gulls, a proceeding which the lesser black-back ap- 

 pears to be timid of, as it rises and soars over them, or swerves sideways to 

 escape them. Retired in habits as the great black-backed gull appears to be, the 

 lesser species is yet more so ; as on one occasion I saw a rook (Corvus frugile- 

 gus) in a ploughed field walk towards a gull of this species in a manner that 

 seemed to at once remind the intruder that he had better seek his proper pela- 

 .gic territory ; the decisive action of the rook was sufficient for the gull, as he at 

 once took wing, and sought his homestead amid the clifl^s. With the herring, 

 common, and kittiwake gulls there is considerable similarity in their habits. 

 More sociable than the other two species, these birds unite in flocks, and fly to 

 and from their nests together, fish in company, and are unanimous in the one out- 

 cry when disturbed. Of the three species, the herring-gull appears to possess the 

 most acute sense of hearing, as I have seen a few birds rise from their nests and 

 fly steadily seaward; by degrees the numbers increase, until the nests are com- 



