LARUS.] AVES NATATORES. 



mandible. At the age of three years, or after the third autumnal moult, 

 the plumage is matured. (Egg.) Yellow-brown tinged with green, 

 sparingly spotted with slate-colour and dark brown : long. diam. three 

 inches two lines; trans, diam. two inches four lines. 



Not so plentiful as the two last species, but occasionally met with on 

 most parts of the British coast. Observed by Montagu in considerable 

 abundance on the extensive sandy flats of the coast of Caermarthenshire. 

 In the immature state, it is sometimes seen far inland. Breeds in the 

 Orkneys, and on the northern shores of Scotland. Nest placed on the 

 shelves of insulated rocks. Eggs three or four in number. Food, fish, 

 carrion, and any animal matter. 



301. L.' Islandicus, Edmondst. (Iceland Gull) Bill 

 yellow : legs livid : tarsus two inches three lines : wings 

 reaching a little beyond the tail : shafts of the primaries 

 white : mantle (in the adult) pale bluish ash. 



L. Islandicus, Edmondst. in Wern. Mem. vol. iv. p. 506. Flem. 

 Brit. An. p. 139. L. argentatus, Sab. in Linn. Tram. vol. xn. 

 p. 546.? Iceland Gull, Selb. Illust. vol. n. p. 501. pi. 98. 



DIMENS. Entire length twenty-two inches, (EDMONDST.): length 

 of the bill (from the forehead) two inches ; of the tarsus two inches 

 three lines, (SELB.): breadth, wings extended, four feet four inches, 

 (EDMONDST.) 



DESCRIPT. Distinguished from the next species by its smaller size, 

 and "from the L. argentatus, which it also closely resembles, by the 

 entire absence of black on the primary quills. (Adult in winter.) " Back, 

 and upper wing-coverts, very pale blue ; all the rest of the plumage 

 white, except the head and upper part of the neck, which are streaked 

 with gray, as occurs in the winter dress of the other large gulls ; wing- 

 feathers and scapulars tipped with a more brilliant and pure white tinge 

 than that which occurs on the rest of the plumage : irides pale yellow : 

 bill smaller and more slender than in the Herring Gull : feet deep flesh- 

 colour." EDMONDST. (Immature Bird.) "Ground-colour of the entire 

 plumage pale yellowish gray ; the feathers being barred and mottled with 

 pale broccoli-brown : quills grayish white, with a slight tinge of broccoli- 

 brown: tail pale broccoli-brown, marbled with white: bill pale flesh- 

 red, or livid, at the base, with the tip blackish, or dark horn-colour: 

 irides pale yellowish gray : legs and toes pale livid flesh-red." SELB. 



A winter visitant in the Shetland Isles, and the "northern parts of 

 Scotland, where it was first observed by Mr. Edmondston, who has 

 pointed out the distinctions between this and the next species. Mr. 

 Selby has also obtained a few specimens on the coast of Northumberland, 

 though all in immature plumage. By this last gentleman it is con- 

 sidered to be the same as the L. argentatus of Sabine, /. c. (the L. 

 arcticus of Macgillivray, Wern. Mem. vol. v. p. 268), which is described 

 as being plentiful in Baffin s Bay, Davis' s Straits, and Melville Island. 

 Mr. Selby observes that it is also common upon the Iceland coast, and 

 thinks it probable that many of those which winter with us retire there 

 to breed. Feeds on fish, the flesh of whales, and other carrion. 



302. L. glaucus, Brunn. (Glaucous Gull.) Bill 

 yellow : legs livid : tarsus three inches : wings barely 



