HERRING GULL. 609 



notices the fine cliff of Sumburgh Head, the southern ter- 

 mination of Shetland, as a place where the Herring GulK 

 breeds abundantly. Mr. Dunn says, this species is very 

 numerous both in Orkney and Shetland. It is found in 

 Scandinavia, at the Faroe Islands, in Iceland, and by our 

 Arctic voyagers in Greenland and Melville Island. Mr. 

 Audubon mentions it as plentiful in North America. 



This species is observed all the year on the coasts of 

 Holland, France, and Spain ; both old and young are also 

 observed at Genoa in winter. Dr. Heineken includes it in 

 his Catalogue of the Birds of Madeira ; and M. Savi in 

 his Birds of Italy. It is found at Corfu, at Crete, Sicily, 

 and Malta ; and Mr. Drummond mentions that it is com- 

 mon, and breeds at Biserta. Mr. G. H. Strickland men- 

 tions, that the Herring Gull frequents the Golden Horn 

 at Constantinople ; it is found in Asia Minor, and on the 

 southern shores of the Black Sea. 



The adult bird in summer has the bill yellow, the angle 

 of the under mandible red ; edges of the eyelids orange, 

 the irides straw yellow ; head and neck, all round, pure 

 white; the back, and all the wing-coverts uniform delicate 

 French grey ; tertials tipped with white ; primaries mostly 

 black, but grey on the basal portion of the inner web ; the 

 first primary with a triangular patch of white at the end, 

 the second and third with smaller portions of white ; upper 

 tail-coverts and tail-feathers pure white ; chin, throat, 

 breast, belly, and all the under surface of the body and 

 tail pure white ; legs and feet flesh colour. The whole 

 length is from twenty-two inches to twenty-four and a 

 half, depending upon age and sex ; the wing from sixteen 

 inches and a half to seventeen and a quarter. In winter 

 the adult birds have the head streaked with dusky grey. 

 Young birds resemble the young of the Lesser Black -backed 

 Gull, but the legs and feet are more livid in colour. 



VOL. III. R R 



