GLAUCOUS GULL. 
105 
They are ravenous birds, and devour indiscriminately any¬ 
thing eatable, not only fish, shell-fish, and Crustacea, but 
even small birds and their eggs and young. They feed their 
nestlings with the same. Two Little Auks were found in 
one, and Faber saw another chased. They also rob other 
species of prey they may have captured, even the Fulmar, 
the Ivory Gull, and the Kittiwake, as mentioned by Captain 
(afterwards the Rev. Dr.) Scoresby, the Arctic voyager. They 
sometimes advance a little way inland for food. 
The note is a loud and harsh scream. 
This bird is said to build upon the sea-beach, just above 
high-water mark, as well as on the ledges of steep cliffs, 
and island rocks in the sea. The nests are composed of 
dry sticks and sea-weeds, with some lining of grasses, the 
whole laid together to the depth of about half a foot, the 
width being about two feet. They are tolerably strong, 
though inartificially constructed. 
The eggs are stated to be of a pale purple grey, colour, with 
scattered spots of brown, and pale bluish purple. 
The young are hatched after an incubation of four weeks, 
and leave the nest about the end of July. 
Male; weight, between four and five pounds—different indi¬ 
viduals vary, as might naturally be supposed of any predatory 
birds, several ounces in weight; length, two feet eight or nine 
inches; bill, yellowish white, the angle of the lower mandible 
reddish orange, more red in winter; iris, pale yellow, the eyelids 
reddish orange. Head, crown, neck, and nape, white, slightly 
streaked in winter with bluish grey or pale brown, but the bird 
would seem to be less changeful in its plumage at the different 
seasons of the year than the other kinds; chin, throat, and breast, 
pure silky white; back, white, with a tinge of light bluish grey, 
in winter deeper grey. 
The wings, when closed, scarcely reach to the end of the tail, 
and extend to the width of five feet five inches; greater and 
lesser wing coverts, white, with a pale tinge of bluish, in winter 
fine bluish grey at the base; secondaries, tertiaries, greater 
and lesser under wing coverts, tail, and upper and under tail 
coverts, white, with a silky lustre. Legs and toes, dull yel¬ 
lowish red; claws, dusky, and rather blunt. 
The young are of a pale grey fawn-colour in their general 
appearance; the bill is dark horn-colour, the base pale yellow¬ 
ish brown; iris, dark. Head, crown, neck, and nape, dull white 
and pale greyish buff brown; chin, throat, and breast, dull 
