ICELAND GULL. 459 



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

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

 of prey. In the winter of 1820-21, which I passed at Dre- 

 batte, on the southern coast, there was not a single L. leu- 

 copterus to be seen ; on the 1st of March, 1821, the shore 

 was almost free of sea-gulls ; but as I stepped out of my 

 room early on the 2nd of March, the air was almost filled 

 with a species of Larus which had appeared suddenly. As I 

 approached and looked up at them, I soon recognised my 

 L. leucopterus, which had arrived in great numbers during 

 the night. The Icelanders concluded, from the sudden ap- 

 pearance of these Gulls, that shoals of codfish must have 

 arrived on the coast. They got ready their boats and nets, 

 and the fish had in truth arrived in such numbers that the 

 fishing for that season commenced immediately. Here, where 

 hitherto an ornithological quiet had reigned, everything now 

 became enlivened through the arrival of these birds, which, 

 without intermission, and with incessant cries, hovered over the 

 nets. If I wished to shoot this Gull I observed the time 

 when the fishing-boats landed, and this tame bird followed 

 the boats to shore in order to feed on the parts which were 

 thrown away by the fishermen. I heard afterwards that this 

 particular species of Gull had been very scarce during that 

 winter on the northern coast ; the Greenland ice had filled up 

 all the inlets there, and the birds were thus driven to the 

 southern shore, where I had again the opportunity of observ- 

 ing them. In this year, 1821, they remained on the southern 

 coast till the middle of May, when they entirely left it to 

 proceed northward to their breeding-places. 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. 

 They often sit by hundreds on a piece of ice, and in that way 



