570 LARUS LEUCOPTERUS. 



the first five quills without markings, and of a greyish-white 

 colour. The lower parts are a confused mixture of pale grey, 

 very light brown, and yellowish-wliite. Some of the dimen- 

 sions of two individuals in this state are as follows : — 



Length 23, 20 ; bill along the ridge 1|, 1\%, its height at 

 the knob f, -f^; tarsus 2f, 2 ; middle toe and ckw 2f, 2-f^. 



Remarks. — In size and proportions the species is nearly 

 alli(;d to Larus argentatus ; from which it differs in having 

 the bill smaller, the nostrils narroAver, and the outer primaries 

 without any black markings at any age. Although much 

 inferior in size, it is more nearly allied to Larus glaucus, 

 which it entirely resembles in colour, the bluish-grey tint of 

 the back and wings being merely paler. 



In a paper read to the Wernerian Natural History Society, 

 on the 24th March, 1821, Dr. Edmondston described, as 

 having been observed by him in Shetland, a large Gull, 

 known to the Shetlanders under the name of Iceland Gull, 

 or Iceland Scorie, although neither he nor they had any 

 certainty of its occurring in that country. On the 23d March, 

 1822, another paper was read describing an adult individual 

 of the same species, to w^hich he proposed giving the name of 

 Larus islandicus, or Iceland Gull. This bird, however, was 

 found to be the Burgomaster, or Glaucous Gull, Larus glau- 

 cus of Temminck and others, of which the first satisfactory 

 account is that given in a Memoir of the Birds of Greenland 

 by Captain EdAvard Sabine, in Avhich he enumerates the 

 species observed by the Expedition under Captain Ross in 

 1818, Linn. Trans. XII. 527. His description is sufficiently 

 detailed and correct to remove all doubt as to the species. 

 He observes that, from specimens in his brother's possession, 

 he is enabled to render the history of the plumage complete, 

 and at the same time to add it to the British Fauna ; from 

 which we have to infer that one or more specimens in Mr. 

 Sabine's collection Avere from Shetland or Orkney. This part 

 of the volume was published in 1818. In 1820, M. Tem- 

 minck, in the second edition of his Manuel d'Ornithologie, 

 gave a full account of the species, under the same name of 

 Larus glaucus, describing it Avith his usual acciuacy and 



