sabine"'s gull. 423 



shown to me by Dr. Fitcli. This Last bird is now in the 

 collection of J. T. Martin, Esq. of Qiiy Hall. M. Tem- 

 minck, in the 4tli Part of his Manual, notices three instances 

 of the occurrence of this species known to him ; one, a young 

 bird, killed on the coast of Holland ; a second, killed on the 

 Rhine ; and a third near Rouen. M. Temminck has also 

 noticed that there is one example of this bird in the mu- 

 seum at Vienna. 



This species of Gull was first described in the IStli volume 

 of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, page 520, by the 

 late Joseph Sabine, Esq. from specimens sent by his brother, 

 Captain Edward Sabine, of the Royal Artillery, who accom- 

 panied the expedition of 1818 in search of a North- West 

 Passage. The account of these birds was that " they were 

 met with by Captain Sabine, and killed by him on the 25th 

 of .July, 1818, on a group of three rocky islands, each about 

 a mile across, on the west coast of Greenland, twenty miles 

 distant from the mainland in latitude 75° 29' N., and longi- 

 tude 60° 9' W. They were associated in considerable num- 

 bers with Arctic Terns, breeding on those islands, the nests 

 of both birds being intermingled. This Gull lays two eggs 

 on the bare ground ; these are hatched the last week in July ; 

 the young are mottled at first with brown and dull yellow. 

 The eggs are an inch and a half in length, and of regular 

 shape, not much pointed ; the colour is olive, blotched with 

 brown. The parent birds flew with impetuosity towards per- 

 sons approaching their nests and young ; and when one bird 

 of a pair was killed, its mate, though frequently fired at con- 

 tinued on wing close to the spot Avhere it lay. They get 

 their food on the sea-beach, standing near the water's edge 

 and picking up the marine insects which are cast on shore."" 



During the second Arctic voyage one bird of this species 

 was seen in Prince Regent's Inlet ; afterwards many speci- 

 mens were obtained on Melville Peninsula. It has been 



