SABINE'S GULL. 551 



frequently fired at, continued on wing close to the spot 

 where it lay. They get their food on the sea-beach, 

 standing near the water's edge and picking up the marine 

 insects which are cast on shore." 



During the second Arctic voyage one bird of this 

 species was seen in Prince Regent's Inlet ; afterwards 

 many specimens were obtained on Melville Peninsula. 

 It has been found also at Spitzbergen, Igloolik, Bhering's 

 Straits, Cape Garry, and Felix Harbour. Some Esqui- 

 maux also told Sir James C. Ross that it breeds in great 

 numbers on the low land west of Neityelle. 



Mr. Audubon mentions that he saw one flying over the 

 harbour of Halifax in Nova Scotia, and that they had 

 been seen in abundance on one occasion about one hundred 

 miles off Newfoundland. It visits Bermuda in autumn. 



The following is Mr. Sabine's full description of the 

 adult bird in its summer plumage : " The bill one inch 

 long, the base of both mandibles black, as far as the 

 angular projection of the lower mandible, the remainder 

 yellow ; the inside of the mouth bright vermilion. The 

 irides dark, surrounded by a naked circle of the same 

 colour as the inside of the mouth ; a small white speck 

 beneath the eye scarcely perceptible. The whole of the 

 head and upper part of the neck a very dark ash, or 

 lead colour ; the remainder of the neck behind and before, 

 as well as the breast and belly, pure white ; a narrow 

 black collar surrounds the neck at the meeting of the 

 ash colour and of the white. The back, scapulars, and 

 wing-coverts are ash-coloured, very much lighter than the 

 head, but darker than the corresponding parts of the 

 Larus ridibundus ; the lower ends of the scapulars are 

 tipped with white. The first five primary quill-feathers 

 with black shafts, the whole outer webs of these black, 

 the edge of their upper webs white to within an inch and 



