422 LARID.E. 



tail, exliibits one point of resemblance to tlie greater number 

 of the Terns. Like tlie Terns, too, some of the smaller Gulls 

 assume during the breeding-season a dark-coloured head. 



The species of the genus Larus, or the Gulls, are nu- 

 merous, and most of them have a wide geographical range. 

 They frequent the ocean, many of them living on the coast, 

 but occasionally visiting inland lakes, rivers, and marshes. 

 They are voracious feeders, living on fish alive or dead, and 

 seldom refuse any animal matter that is cast ashore by the 

 tidal Avaves. The young differ from the adult birds in 

 plumage, and are not allowed to associate with them at the 

 nesting-place, whether it be rock or marsh, during the breed- 

 ing-season. The adult birds undergo a partial change of 

 colour in spring, besides the regular general moult in autumn. 

 The sexes do not diifer in plumage ; but the males are larger 

 than the females, and this difference is so considerable in the 

 Gulls of large size as in some instances to have led to the 

 supposition of new, or distinct species. 



We arc indebted to Wm. Thompson, Esq. of Belfast, for 

 the first notice of Sabine''s Gull as an addition to the British 

 Fauna, and also for a description of the plumage of the young- 

 bird in its first autumn dress, which had not previously come 

 under the inspection of the ornithologist. The first specimen 

 was shot in Belfast Bay, in September, 1822, and was pre- 

 sented to the Natural History Society of Belfast, for the 

 museum, in 183S. In the Museum of the Royal Dublin 

 Society, Mr. Thompson has also pointed out a second ex- 

 ample of this Gull, which is also in the plumage of the first 

 autumn. This bird was shot in Dublin Bay by Mr. Wall, 

 the curator. In October, 1837, H. H. Dombrain, Esq., of 

 Dublin, wrote me word that he had obtained a third example 

 of this Gull, which was also a young bird of the year. Since 

 then I have notes of one killed at Milford Haven, in the 

 autumn of 1809, and another shot in Cambridgeshire was 



