8o Allen's naturalist's library. 



Range in Great Britain. — This small representative of the 

 Glaucous Gull is only a visitor to Great Britain, though it some- 

 times appears in some numbers off the coasts of Scotland ; it 

 is of rarer occurrence off the English and Irish coasts. 



Range outside the British Islands. — The breeding-range of the 

 Iceland Gull is in the Arctic regions, in Greenland, Jan Mayen 

 Island, and, according to Saunders, perhaps on the American 

 side of Baffin Bay. In winter it visits Iceland and, the Faeroes, 

 as well as the shores of Scandinavia and the Baltic, and the 

 north-west of Europe down to the Gulf of Gascony in severe 

 seasons. In North America it descends to the latitude of 

 Boston. 



Habits. — The only account of the habits of the Iceland Gull 

 is that of Faber, of which an epitome is given in Saunders's 

 edition of Yarrell's " British Birds " (iii. p. 646). About the 

 middle of September both old and young birds appear off the 

 coast of Ireland for the winter, disappearing about the end of 

 April or the beginning of May. " These birds," says Faber, 

 ''were so tame that they came on land up to my winter dwell- 

 ing on the northern coast to mop up the entrails of fish thrown 

 away by the inhabitants, and disputed fiercely for them with 

 the Ravens. I had one of these Gulls so tame that it came 

 every morning to my door at a certain time to obtain food and 

 then flew away again. It gave me notice of its arrival by 

 uttering its cry. This Gull indicated to the seal-shooters in 

 the fjord where they should look for the seals by continually 

 follov\ing their track in the sea, by hovering in flocks, and with 

 incessant cries, over them ; and whilst the seals hunted the 

 sprat and the capeling towards the surface of the water, these 

 Gulls precipitated themselves down upon the fish and snapped 

 them up. In like manner they follow the track of the cod-fish 

 in the sea, and feed upon the booty hunted up by this fish of 

 prey. . . . This Gull was my weather-guide in winter. If 

 it swam near the shore, and there, as if anxious, moved along 

 with its feathers puffed out, then I knew that on the following 

 day storms and snow were to be expected. In fine weather it 

 soared high in the air. Hundreds often sit on a piece of ice, 

 and in that way are drifted many miles. In its manners the 

 Iceland Gull differs from the Glaucous Gull, which has the 



