ICELAND GULL. 335 



floating on the surface. Occasionally great numbers congregate on the 

 floating pieces of ice, probably to rest or sleep, and are thus drifted for 

 miles. It often swims, and alights on the water to rest. 



The Iceland Gull feeds on almost anything. It catches the small fish 

 that swim near the surface, and eats all kinds of refuse thrown from the 

 houses ; it also feeds on crustaceans, and Saxby noticed its partiality for 

 vegetable food. In the Shetlands he often saw it searching for food near 

 the pigs, and he took oats, vegetable fibres, and small pieces of quartz from 

 its stomach. Saxby says that the note of the Iceland Gull somewhat 

 resembles that of the Common Goose, but it has a character of its own ; 

 and Audubon remarks that 'its notes are not so loud nor so frequently 

 uttered as those of the Herring-Gull. 



Of the habits of the Iceland Gull in the breeding-season but little has 

 been recorded. Dr. Walker observed it breeding on the high cliffs that 

 fringe the shore of Beliefs Strait in Arctic America; MacFarlane pro- 

 cured several clutches of its eggs in July on the Arctic coast of America ; 

 Dall found this Gull breeding abuudantly in Alaska, and states that the 

 eggs were laid from the 5th to the 10th of June. It appears to make its 

 nest either on the tall beetling cliffs that skirt the Arctic Sea or on the 

 sandy beaches. The nests found by Dall were small depressions in the 

 sand; but when on the cliffs a more substantial structure is doubtless 

 provided. The eggs appear to be three in number, when the full clutch 

 is laid, and vary in ground-colour from pale greyish buff to buffish brown 

 and pale olive. The surface-markings; varying in size from a large pea to 

 a speck, vary also from rich brown to pale brown in colour, and are pretty 

 evenly distributed over the entire surface of the egg. The underlying 

 markings are large, numerous, and conspicuous, and are violet-grey. Some 

 eggs are much more boldly marked than others, the spots being often 

 confluent and forming an irregular zone round the large end. They vary 

 in length from 2'85 to 2'5 inch, and in breadth from 1*93 to 1*8 inch. It 

 is impossible to distinguish the eggs of the Iceland Gull from those of the 

 Lesser Black-backed Gull and the Siberian Herring-Gull (L. affinis). 

 Eggs of the Common Herring-Gull resemble them closely, but are on 

 an average slightly larger and richer in colour. It is not known that 

 the Iceland Gull rears more than one brood in the year. 



In winter it often congregates into large flocks, young and old birds 

 mixing indiscriminately. At this season its habits are said closely to 

 resemble those of the Herring-Gull ; but it is said by Audubon to venture 

 further up rivers and creeks and to be less shy than that bird. 



The Iceland Gull is about the size of the Lesser Black-backed Gull. In 

 the colour of its plumage, and in the changes dependent upon age and 

 season, it is not known to differ in the slightest respect from the Glaucous 

 Gull except that in fully adult birds the orbits are flesh-coloured instead. 



