398 TEN YEAES IN SWEDEN. 



than the wings ; first wing feather a little longer than 

 second, which is much longer than the third, which 

 is longer than the fourth ; mantle ash blue ; tarsus 

 2 in. ; the first two primaries black, with a large white 

 spot near the tips ; beak green, with the tip yellow ; 

 iris grey ; legs greenish yellow ; in some, probably very 

 old birds, the iris is brown, and the legs blueish. 

 Is the commonest of all the gulls, in the summer, on 

 all the Scandinavian coasts. 



There is a form of the common gull on these coasts, 

 which some wish to make a distinct species, in which the 

 six outer primaries are black, their shafts white in the 

 middle. Nilsson calls this the hvit spolig (or white- 

 shafted) gull. 



233. L. LEUCOPTERUS, Fab. Hvit-vingad Trut. The Ice- 



land Gull. D. P. 



Length 20 to 22 in. ; beak, from nostrils, 8 1. ; tail 

 7 in., 2 in. shorter than the wings ; the first wing 

 feathers pale ash blue, with white shafts and long white 

 tips ; mantle pale ash blue ; first wing feather longer 

 than second; beak yellow, with a red spot on the 

 angle of the under mandible ; legs white flesh colour. 

 Eesembles the herring gull, but the colour of the back 

 is much paler, and the wing primaries are never black ; 

 in the young birds the wing feathers are tinged with grey- 

 brown, and have dark spots behind the white tip. 



Said to breed in East Finland, but is only an occasional 

 visitant, generally in the winter, to the other Scandinavian 

 coasts. 



The egg is small for the size of the bird ; smaller than 

 that of the herring gull, which it often much resembles. 



234. L. AEGENTATUSJ Brun. Gra Trut. The Herring 



Gull. D. F. 



Mantle ash blue, darker than the last ; the four first 

 wing feathers black, with black shafts; the first with 

 a long white tip, the second with a large round white 

 spot at the back of the tip, which, as in the two 



