GLAUCOUS GULL. 477 



more, and its flight is also more buoyant than that of the 

 other species of Gull ; and, when not in quest of food, it is 

 of a reserved disposition, seldom coming within the range of 

 a fowling-piece, but soars at a respectful distance, uttering, 

 at intervals, a hoarse scream, of a sound quite peculiar to 

 itself. It exhibits none of that remarkable instinct so pre- 

 dominant in many of the larger species of the genus, which 

 prompts them frequently, at the hazard of their own lives, to 

 warn other animals of the vicinity of the sportsman ; but 

 when once alarmed, it commonly flies off. In the month of 

 November, 1820, I observed a flock of upwards of a hundred 

 of this species in the Bay of Balta Sound, in Shetland. 

 They remained there for two or three weeks, going out to 

 sea, in search of food, regularly, at a particular period of the 

 tide, and returning to rest for some time in the Bay, During 

 this time I had ample opportunity of observing their appear- 

 ance and habits, and of completely confirming all the views 

 I had previously entertained concerning them. It is in 

 Unst, the most northerly island of the group, that I have 

 found it most frequently, and where it is chiefly known. It 

 is there that I have observed it first to arrive, and this most 

 generally occurred when the wind was favourable from the 

 Arctic regions," 



Mr. Thompson says Larus glaucus is of occasional occur- 

 rence on every quarter of the coast of Ireland. The fine 

 specimen from which our illustration was taken was shot by 

 Francis Edwards, Esq,, of Bristol, in the winter of 1840, 

 on the Severn. Specimens have been obtained in Cornwall 

 and Devonshire. Mr. Bullock, in his London Collection, 

 exhibited various specimens, some of which were sent to him 

 by Mr. L. Edmondston ; one was killed on Loch Lomond, 

 and one on the coast of Northumberland, where Mr. Selby 

 observes other examples, old and young, have occurred. Mr. 

 Bartlett obtained an immature specimen in the London mar- 



