580 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



SABINE'S GULL, Larus Sabini. The occurrence of 

 three specimens of this rare little Gull at Weston- 

 super-Mare have been recorded in the 'Zoologist' 

 hy the Rev. Murray A. Mathew,* and therefore it is 

 perfectly entitled to a place in the list of Somerset- 

 shire birds, perhaps more so than some that I have 

 mentioned. Being the only one of our British Gulls 

 that has a forked tail, it seems very properly to come 

 in this place, as it forms a sort of link between the 

 Gulls and the Terns : on account of this peculiarity 

 it may also easily be distinguished from any of our 

 other Gulls in any state of plumage. Yarrell, 

 quoting Colonel Sabine, who first noticed this bird 

 when accompanying the Arctic Expedition of 1818, 

 says that these Gulls collect at their breeding sta- 

 tions in considerable numbers, sometimes associating 

 with the Arctic Terns, the nests, or rather the eggs, 

 for they make no nest, merely placing the eggs on 

 the bare ground, of both species being intermingled. 

 The breeding stations are always in high northern 

 latitudes, from whence only occasional stragglers 

 reach as far south as England, generally making 

 their appearance at the time of the autumnal migra- 

 tion, and most of these are young birds in their first 

 3 r ear's plumage. 



The food of this species appears to consist mostly 



* 'Zoologist' for 1863 (p. 8692); for 1865 (p. 9470); 

 and for 1867 (Second Series, p. 992). 



