SABINE'S MEW. 609 



Length to end of tail 13 inches ; wing from flexure 10| ; 

 tail 5 ; bill 1 ; tarsus l-^ ; middle toe 1, its claw -^. 



Variations. — Not having seen more than half a dozen 

 specimens, I have not observed any remarkable variations. 

 The first quill in one specimen had no white mark at the tip. 



Habits. — This species was discovered by Captain Sabine 

 on the west coast of Greenland, at a breeding station, on 

 some low rocky islands, where it associated with the Arctic 

 Tern. Like that species, it showed great boldness in pro- 

 tecting its young, and flew with impetuosity towards a person 

 approaching its nest. Many specimens were procured, in the 

 course of Sir Edward Parry's second voyage, on Melville 

 Peninsula. It arrives in the arctic regions in June, and 

 deposits on the bare ground its two eggs, which are of an 

 olivaceous colour, blotched with brown. In August it takes 

 its departure, and during winter and spring is seen along the 

 coasts of Nova Scotia, and occasionally as far south as New 

 York. Its habits do not appear to difier from those of several 

 other species of the genus. 



It was first announced as a member of the British Fauna 

 in April, 1834, by Mr. Thompson, who exhibited to the 

 Linnaean Society a specimen shot in Belfast Bay, in Septem- 

 ber, 1823, and made mention of another, in the Museum of 

 the Royal Dublin Society, shot by Mr. "Wall, near Kingstown. 

 A third specimen, shot in September, 1834, on the shore of 

 Belfast Bay, and a fourth, killed in the Bay of Dublin, in 

 September, 1837, are subsequently recorded by him. All 

 these birds were in their first year's plumage. Mr. Yarrell 

 mentions one as having been killed at Milford Haven, in the 

 autumn of 1839, and another as having been obtained in 

 Cambridgeshire. A few individuals are also stated to have 

 been procured on the coasts of Holland and France. 



VOL. V. 



