ICELAND GULL. 643 



Lawrence Edmonston, of Unst, in Shetland ; and since its 

 specific distinctness from the Glaucous Gull has been recog- 

 nized, it has proved to be a tolerably frequent, although a 

 somewhat irregular, visitor to our shores. According to Mr. 

 R. Gray, immature birds occur almost every year on the 

 eastern side of Scotland, from Shetland to Berwick, and on 

 the west from Skye to Ayrshire, although adults are rare. 

 The winter of 1872-3, which saw such an unusual arrival 

 of Glaucous Gulls in the Firth of Forth, was still more 

 remarkable for the occurrence of the Iceland Gull ; and the 

 following details are extracted from an interesting paper on 

 the subject by Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown (Pr. N. H. Soc. 

 Glasgow, 1873, p. 210) :— 



" When first observed and commented upon, a few speci- 

 mens of the rarer species of White-winged Gull (Larus 

 leucojHcrus) had been observed by Dr. Dewar, and afterwards 

 they were seen in some numbers by Mr. Gray and myself on 

 the 4th January. As Mr. Gray mentioned in his paper, we 

 identified at least six adult birds of this species on that day. 

 Since then I have met with them abundantly ; on some days 

 they were much more numerous than the Glaucous Gull 

 (L. glaums). But it was only at sunrise on the 13th of this 

 month that I realized in my mind the vast numbers which 

 are frequenting the firth. Whether those I saw on this day 

 had only lately arrived, or had merely remained out of sight, 

 it is difficult of course to determine, but I think, from what 

 I have observed of late, that the latter is the more probable 

 suj^position. On the above-mentioned date, I counted in a 

 few seconds no less than twelve adult Iceland Gulls as they 

 flew low against the wind, showing the white primaries dis- 

 tinctly, and as I afterwards slowly drifted in a boat along the 

 side of the mud-banks, Iceland Gulls were constantly in 

 sight — two, three, or even more at a time. These birds 

 were all flying away inland ; and, in company with Glaucous 

 and other Gulls, were alighting on a ploughed field on 

 Dunmore estate. Towards the afternoon scarcely a single 

 Iceland Gull was visible over the water. As a large body of 

 Gulls have for some time past frequented this particular field, 



