562 LARUS GLAUCUS. 



by which I liave proposed to distinguisli it, as expressive 

 both of its arctic haunts and of the vulgar appellation by 

 Avhich it is known in the Zetland Islands." 



I have seen this bird in the Outer Hebrides, where, hoAv- 

 ever, it seemed to be of very rare occurrence. An adult 

 killed by Mr. John Ledingham, an immature bird killed by 

 Mr. Alexander Chalmers, in the end of November, 1846, and 

 another shot by Mr. Davidson, in January, 1849, near Aber- 

 deen, are all that are known to me to have been obtained on 

 that coast. In the Firth of Forth it must be of rare occur- 

 rence, as I have seen only one individual procured there. Mr. 

 Selby, however, informs us that " it occasionally extends its 

 equatorial flight as far as the Northumbrian coast, where 

 several have at different times come under his inspection in 

 a recent state. These, with the exception of one in the 

 adult winter plumage, have all been young birds ; some, 

 from their spotted and broAvn appearance, the young of the 

 year ; others, where the markings had become paler, and the 

 ground of a pure white, such as had imdergone one or perhaps 

 two autumnal moultings. It has occurred here and there all 

 round the coasts of England, and in a few instances in 

 Ireland. 



Individuals have never been known to breed in any part 

 of the British Islands. Two eggs, presented to me by Mr. 

 Audubon, are of a rather broad oval shape, pale yellowish- 

 grey, marked all over with dots and small spots, generally 

 not exceeding two-twelfths of an inch in diameter, of dark- 

 brown, with sppts and blotches of pale purplish-grey. The 

 length of the largest is three inches and two-twelfths, its 

 breadth two inches and two-twelfths. They are extremely 

 similar to the eggs of Larus marinus, which they, however, 

 considerably exceed in size. " Its eggs," quoth Mr. E-ennie, 

 in his edition of Montagu's Dictionary, " are greenish, elon- 

 gated, and marked with six or eight black blotches." Has 

 he ever seen them ? No ; the description is bori'owed from 

 Temminck, " pond des oeufs verdatres, allonges vers le bout 

 et marques de six ou huit taches noires." These errors are 

 lamentable, for they would lead us to infer that the ornitho- 

 logists are little to be trusted. I find that Temminck has 



