638 



where it is chiefly known. It is there that I have observed 

 it first to arrive, and this most generally occurred when the 

 wind was favourable from the Arctic regions." 



To this account the late Dr. Saxby adds that he has seen 

 the Glaucous Gull in Shetland in May and June, and on 

 the 17th of the latter month he once saw two birds in 

 what appeared to be the second year's plumage, on the Loch 

 of Cliff, in Unst. The first birds returning for the winter 

 usually appeared there about the , middle of October in 

 small flocks composed of old and young, the latter pre- 

 dominating. In winter by far the larger proportion were 

 young birds, nearly all the old ones habitually disappearing 

 shortly after their arrival. This Gull frequently congre- 

 gates in considerable numbers ; and one day, in November 

 1864, he saw a flock numbering about a hundred and forty 

 pass over, on the way southward, in the face of a gale of 

 wind. This fine Gull is also a visitor to the Orkneys, 

 and it sometimes occurs in considerable numbers on the 

 east coast of Scotland. During the winter of 1872-3, large 

 flocks were observed by Mr. K. Gray, and others (Pr. N. H. 

 Soc. Glasgow, 1873, p. 198), in the estuary of the Forth. 

 On the west coast, according to the same authority (B. of 

 W. of Scotl. p. 490), this species is in general less plentiful, 

 remaining for the most part in the vicinity of the Outer 

 Hebrides, and seldom roaming within the circle of the inner 

 islands. In England it is, naturally, of more frequent occur- 

 rence in the northern than in the southern districts, but 

 examples in immature plumage are observed on the east 

 coast down to Norfolk almost every autumn and winter, 

 adults being much rarer. At irregular intervals it has been 

 obtained on the entire coast of England, although less fre- 

 quently in the south-west ; but the fine specimen from which 

 the illustration was taken was shot by Mr. Francis Edwards, 

 of Bristol, in the winter of 1840, on the Severn. It has 

 also been shot in Cambridgeshire and other inland counties. 

 Its visits to Ireland are comparatively rare, and irregular. 



To the Faeroe Islands the Glaucous Gull is a visitor from 

 autumn to spring, but it breeds sparingly in the northern 



