GLAUCOUS-GULL 171 



GLAUCOUS-GULL 

 [F. C. R JOURDAIN] 



As a British bird the glaucous-gull is only known as a winter 

 visitor, principally to our eastern coasts, and much commoner in the 

 northern part of Great Britain than in the southern half. It is an 

 annual visitor to the Shetlands, which seem to lie on its southward 

 line of migration, but is comparatively rare on the Orkneys. Saxby 

 tells us that small flocks, composed of young and old birds, but chiefly 

 the former, appear about the middle of October. Some of the young 

 birds may be seen throughout the winter months, but the old birds 

 disappear shortly after their arrival. 1 These flocks travel down the 

 east coast, but seem to have a definite route, not following the 

 indentations of the coast, but working from one outlying point to 

 another. On account of this habit most of our records come from 

 certain localities on their flight-lines. It must not be supposed that 

 the numbers which visit us are at all uniform, for they vary extra- 

 ordinarily from year to year. Edmonston observed a flock of over a 

 hundred birds in November 1820 in Balta Sound in the Shetland Isles ; 

 and in November 1864, in the face of a gale of wind, Saxby saw a 

 flock of about a hundred and forty birds flying over. In 1871-72 

 immense numbers of this species, and probably also some Iceland 

 gulls, visited the east coast of Scotland, and were especially noticed in 

 the Firth of Forth and also at the Tay mouth, the Eden estuary, and 

 the coast of north-east Fife. 2 In the winter of 1872-73 a still more 

 extensive migration took place. Mr. Harvie-Brown describes how, at 

 St. Andrews, he saw " literally hundreds principally glaucous-gulls 

 that winter, streaming along the tops and under the shelter of the 

 sandhills which fringe the golf-links, flying low and almost touching 



1 Saxby, Birds of Shetland, p. 349. 



2 J. A. Harvie-Brown, A Fauna of the Tay Basin and Strathmore, p. 338. 



