GLAUCOUS GULL. 105 



They are ravenous birds, and devour ..idiscriminately any- 

 thing eatable, not only fish, shell-fish, arid Crustacea, but 

 even small birds and their eggs and young. They feed their 

 nestlings with the same. Two Little Auks were found in 

 one, and Faber saw another chased. They also rob other 

 species of prey they may have captured, even the Fulmar, 

 the Ivory Gull, and the Kittiwake, as mentioned by Captain 

 (afterwards the Rev. Dr.) Scoresby, the Arctic voyager. They 

 sometimes advance a little way inland for food. 



The note is a loud and harsh scream. 



This bird is said to build upon the sea-beach, just above 

 high-water mark, as well as on the ledges of steep cliffs, 

 and island rocks in the sea. The nests are composed of 

 dry sticks and sea-weeds, with some lining of grasses, the 

 whole laid together to the depth of about half a foot, the 

 width being about two feet. They are tolerably strong, 

 though inartificially constructed. 



The eggs are stated to be of a pale purple grey colour, with 

 scattered spots of brown, and pale bluish purple. 



The ycung are hatched after an incubation of four weeks, 

 and leave the nest about the end of July. 



Male; weight, between four and five pounds different indi- 

 viduals vary, as might naturally be supposed of any predatory 

 birds, several ounces in weight; length, two feet eight or nine 

 inches; bill, yellowish white, the angle of the lower mandible 

 reddish orange, more red in winter; iris, pale yellow, the eyelids 

 reddish orange. Head, crown, neck, and nape, white, slightly 

 streaked in winter with bluish grey or pale brown, but the bird 

 would seem to be less changeful in its plumage at the different 

 seasons of the yar than the other kinds; chin, throat, and breast, 

 pure silky white; back, white, with a tinge of light bluish grey, 

 in winter deeper grey. 



The wings, when closed, scarcely reach to the end of the tail, 

 and extend to the width of five feet five inches; greater and 

 lesser wing coverts, white, with a pale tinge of bluish, in winter 

 fine bluish grey at the base; secondaries, tertiaries, greater 

 and lesser under wing coverts, tail, and upper and under tail 

 coverts, white, with a silky lustre. Legs and toes, dull yel- 

 lowish red; claws, dusky, and rather blunt. 



The young are of a pale grey fawn-colour in their general 

 appearance; the bill is dark horn-colour, the base pale yellow- 

 ish brown; iris, dark. Head, crown, neck, and nape, dull white 

 and pale greyish buff brown; chin, throat, and breast, dull 



