612 GAVIA BONAPARTII. 



the eye on each side. Upper parts dull bluish-grey ; many 

 of the Aving-coverts greyish-brown, edged with paler ; quills 

 as in the adult ; rump and tail white, the latter with a broad 

 band of black at the end, the tips narrowly edged with 

 whitish." 



Habits. — This species, which was first described in the 

 Fauna Boreali-Americana of Swainson and Richardson, who 

 state that it is common in all parts of the fur countries, has 

 also been met with by Mr. Audubon in various parts of the 

 east coast of North America, as well as on the Mississippi 

 and Ohio. Its flight, he says, is " light, elevated, and 

 rapid, resembling in buoyancy that of some of our Terns 

 more than that of most of our Gulls, which move their wings 

 more sedately." 



Mr. Thompson's specimen, the first known to have visited 

 Europe, was killed on the tidal portion of the river Lagan, 

 at Belfast, on the 1st of February 1848. It was a young 

 bird, Avhich, he considers, would have attained full plumage 

 at the next moult. All the particulars may be seen in the 

 Annals of Natural History for 1848, p. 192, or the Natural 

 History of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 317, 



