^ije ^vi&lj Itctturali^t* 



Vol.. I. OCTOBER, 1892. No. 7. 



THE ICEIvAND AND GI.AUCOUS GUEI.S {LARUS 

 LEUCOPTERUS, Fabkr: & L. GLAUCUS, O. Fab.) 

 IN IREI.AND. 



BY ROBERT WARRKN. 



The visit of Iceland Gulls to our north-west coast last winter, 

 in such numbers, is so interesting and unusual, that I have 

 been induced to put together a few notes of those Iceland 

 and Glaucous Gulls that have come under my observation, 

 with the dates of occurrence, and of capture of the specimens 

 I obtained. 



The Iceland Gull appears to have visited this part of the 

 Irish coast (Killala Bay) much oftener than the Glaucous; 

 though according to the late Mr. Thompson, the former bird 

 was much the rarer up to the date of the publication of his 

 "Natural History of Ireland," in which he mentions the 

 occurrence of twelve specimens of the Glaucous, and only 

 four of the Iceland Gull. On the English and Scotch coasts 

 the Glaucous is also the more frequent visitor of the two, and 

 this may be partly accounted for by the fact of the latter bird 

 breeding on the coasts of Iceland, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, 

 and on those of Norway, Northern Russia, and Siberia, where 

 Messrs. Harve^'-Brown and H. Seebohm met it breeding 

 on the islands in the delta of the River Petchora; while 

 the head-quarters of the Iceland Gull are Greenland and 

 Arctic America, and its nearest breeding station to us is the 

 remotely-situated island of Jan Mayen, where it was dis- 

 covered breeding by Dr. Fischer of the Austro-Hungarian 

 expedition to that island in the years 1882-1883. The Glau- 

 cous Gull being about the size of the Great Black-backed 

 Gull, resembles it more nearly in habits and style of flight 

 than any of its congeners, and is quite as war}^ and distrustful, 

 seldom allowing the sportsman to come within shot ; so 

 unlike the Iceland, which scarcely ever shows any alarm or 

 timidit}', and is easily obtained by the shooter when met with. 



When seen fl3dng, the Glaucous can be easily distinguished 

 from the Iceland Gull by its larger size and heavier flight, 



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