302 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



GLAUCOUS GULL. Larus glaucas, Gmelin Length, 

 25 in.; bill, 2*5 in.; wing, 18*5 in.; tarsus, 2-75 in. 



A winter visitant from the Arctic regions, more 

 numerous in Shetland, Orkney, and the east coast 

 of Scotland, where most of those met with are birds 

 of the year. / 



From the measurements above given, it will be 

 seen that the Glaucous Gull is nearly as large as 

 a Great Black-backed Gull, but with a pale grey 

 mantle like the Herring Gull, and white wings. A 

 pure white example of this species was shot in 

 March 1865 on the little island of Birnbeck, off 

 Weston-super-Mare. It was originally recorded as 

 an Ivory Gull (Zool., 1865, p. 9566), but the mis- 

 take was subsequently rectified and a second speci- 

 men of the kind was reported (torn. cit. p. 9784). 

 A third example of this variety was obtained also 

 at Weston-super-Mare, where, according to the Rev. 

 Murray A. Mathew, the species in winter is not 

 very rare, coming into the bay with countless other 

 gulls after the sprats. The late John Gatcombe, 

 an observant naturalist long resident in Plymouth, 

 considered the Glaucous Gull to be not uncommon 

 in winter in the waters of South Devon, where he 

 observed it to linger until quite late in the spring, 

 the latest date noted by him being April 30th, in 

 Plymouth Sound (Zool., 1875, p. 4491). From its 

 size and courage, this fine gull is the tyrant among 

 the wild-fowl and sea-fowl of the Arctic seas, prey- 

 ing upon the smaller species (especially on the Little 



