THE ICELAND GULL. 99 



Family LA RIDsE. Subfamily LA RIN/E. 



ICELAND GULL. 



Larus leucopterus, FABER. 



r I ^HE Iceland Gull, like the preceding species, which it so closely resembles in 

 appearance, is only a winter and autumn visitor to our shores, driven by 

 stress of weather. It has, however, been taken on all parts of the coasts of both 

 England and Scotland from the Shetlands to Land's-end. It is, as might be 

 expected, more common in Scotland than in England. In Ireland it is " only 

 known as a bird of extremely rare occurrence on the coast." In 1892, however, 

 large numbers visited Ireland and spread along the coasts from Donegal to Sligo, 

 Mayo and Galway, and were fond of feeding after the plough. As in the 

 case of the Glaucous Gull, it may not improbably more often be on our coast 

 than is suspected ; it may be mistaken for miniature Great Black-backed Gulls, 

 and perhaps Glaucous Gulls are sometimes taken for Iceland Gulls. 



Like the last species, the Iceland Gull is also an Arctic inhabitant, having 

 its home within the Arctic circle, breeding in Greenland, Jan Mayen Island, 

 Alaska, " and perhaps the American side of Baffin Bay " (Satinders). It is not 

 known east of the 3Oth meridian, but a young specimen was obtained by Captain 

 Blakiston in Japan. In winter it straggles southward as far as the latitude of 

 the middle of France. 



The real discoverer of this species as a British Bird was the same enthusiastic 

 naturalist as added the Glaucous Gull to our list Dr. Edmondston, of Shetland. 



Except that the ring round the eyes is not vermilion, as it is in L. glaucus, 

 but flesh colour, the Iceland Gull as far as colouration goes is in every respect 

 similar to the Glaucous Gull, and by this character cannot be separated from it ; 

 the legs and feet are livid flesh colour. In dimensions, however, the Iceland 

 Gull is invariably a smaller bird than its counterpart, and it has a proportionately 

 longer wing, indeed " the largest male L. leucopterus Joes not attain to the length 

 of wing found in the smallest female L. glauctis" (Saunders). 



The female of the Iceland Gull is smaller than the male. The length of 

 L. leTicopterus is 23 inches; wing 16 ; tarsus 2^, and middle toe with its claw, 2\. 



Mr. Harvie-Brown who has studied both birds in their native haunts, says, 



