ICELAND GULL. 597 



with incessant cries over them ; and whilst the seals hunted 

 the sprat and the capeling towards the surface of tHe 

 water, these Gulls precipitated themselves down upon the 

 fish and snapped them up. In like manner they follow 

 the track of the cod-fish iri the sea, to feed upon the booty 

 hunted up by this fish of prey. In the winter of 1820-21, 

 which I passed at Debratte, on the southern coast, there 

 was not a single L. leucopterus to be seen; on the 1st of 

 March, 1821, the shore was almost free of sea-gulls; but 

 as I stepped out of my room early on the 2nd of March, 

 the air was almost filled with a species of Larus which 

 had appeared suddenly. As I approached and looked up 

 at them, I soon recognised my L. leucopterus, which 

 had arrived in great numbers during the night. The 

 Icelanders concluded, from the sudden appearance of these 

 Gulls, that shoals of codfish must have arrived on the coast. 

 They got ready their boats and nets, and the fish had in 

 truth arrived in such numbers that the fishing for that 

 season commenced immediately. Here, where hitherto 

 an ornithological quiet had reigned, everything now be- 

 came enlivened through the arrival of these birds, which, 

 without intermission, and with incessant cries, hovered over 

 the nets. If I wished to shoot this Gull I observed the 

 time when the fishing-boats landed, and this tame bird 

 followed the boats to shore in order to feed on the parts 

 which were thrown away by the fishermen. I heard 

 afterwards that this particular species of Gull had been 

 very scarce during that winter on the northern coast ; the 

 Greenland Ice had filled up all the inlets there, and the 

 birds were thus driven to the southern shore, where I had 

 again the opportunity of observing them. In this year, 

 1821, they remained on the southern coast till the middle 

 of May, when they entirely left it to proceed northward to 

 their breeding-places. This Gull was my weather guide 



