^8 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



Habits. The " Burgomaster," as this great Gull is often 

 called, is a rapacious and omnivorous species, robbing other 

 Gulls of their prey, and feeding on fish, offal, Crustacea, and 

 young birds. Seebohm thus describes his experiences of the 

 species in the north of Norway : " The Glaucous Gull breeds 

 on the cliffs at Vardo, and a large flock, composed principally 

 of immature and entirely of non-breeding birds, frequents the 

 stretches of sand left at low water near Vadso, thirty miles to 

 the south of the breeding colony. When I was at this town, 

 the Glaucous Gulls were always to be seen at all hours flying 

 about the harbour ; but by far the greater portion of them 

 retired to a distant sand-bank, which extended from the 

 southern promontory of the island in the Varanger Fjord, 

 apparently to roost, as the sun approached the north. They 

 were very noisy before finally settling down to rest, continually 

 uttering their loud and harsh note, which may be represented 

 by the syllables 'cut-Ink. 1 Although at Vardo the Glaucous 

 Gull breeds on the precipitous cliffs, Harvie-Brown and I 

 afterwards found its nest on one of the low flat islands which 

 separate the lagoon of the Petchora from the Arctic Ocean. 

 This island was a flat desert of sand, unrelieved by a blade of 

 grass, and it rises very slightly above the level of the sea, which 

 varies very little (only five or six inches) with the tide." 



Nest. The nests found by Seebohm on the Petchora are 

 described by him as "heaps of sand hollowed slightly at the 

 apex, and lined with some irregularly disposed tufts of sea- 

 weed." Mr. Trevor-Battye thus describes the breeding of the 

 species on the island of Kolguev : "The nests of the Glaucous 

 Gulls which we visited were situated on the highest ridge of 

 the outer sand-banks to the south of Scharok Harbour. They 

 were visible from a very long distance, and proved to be lumps 

 formed of sand and mixed with sea-weeds and great quantities 

 of hydrozoa (Sertolaria and others), on which flourished 

 Arenaria peploides. The sand had in many cases originally 

 collected round drifted timber, and the birds had taken advan- 

 tage of this to raise upon it a pile some two feet and more in 

 height. As the Samoyeds rob these nests constantly, one 

 wonders that any young get off. Hyland was so violently 

 mobbed by these birds, which stooped right down at his head, 

 that he shot two ' in self-defence.' " 



