GULL. NATATORES. LARUS. 499 
Tuts large and powerful species was first noticed as a 
winter visitant in Shetland in 1809, by Laurence Epmon- 
ston, Esq., who afterwards published an interesting account 
of its habits and distinguishing characters in the fourth vo- 
lume of the Memoirs of the Wernerian Society, to which pa- 
per, from its length, I beg to refer my readers. Subsequent 
observation has proved it to be not uncommon in that re- 
mote district, both in the immature and perfect state, during 
the winter; but it regularly migrates on the advance of 
spring to higher northern latitudes, for the purpose of re- 
production. It occasionally extends its equatorial flight as 
far to the southward as the Northumbrian coast, where seve- 
ral have at different times come under my inspection in a 
recent state. These, with the exception of one in the adult 
winter plumage (now in my collection), have all been young 
birds ; some, from their spotted and brown appearance, the 
young of the year; others, where the markings had become 
fainter, and the ground of a purer white; such as had un- 
dergone one or perhaps two autumnal moultings. The 
Glaucous Gull is pronounced by 'TEMmrncx to be the largest 
of the tribe, but my own measurements of several indivi- 
duals, with the testimony of Captain Sasine and other 
writers who have described the species, shew that its average 
dimensions in length and extent of wing are inferior to those 
of the Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus). Its form 
is perhaps thicker and more compact, and its weight may 
sometimes exceed that of the other; though I possess a spe- 
cimen of the latter bird which weighed two ounces more than 
any of the Glaucous Gulls that have come under my obser- 
vation. By Dr Ricuarpson it is described as a common 
species during the summer, in Greenland, Baflin’s Bay, and 
the Polar Seas, where it breeds upon the precipitous rocks 
which line those coasts. Its eggs are stated to be of a pale 
purplish-grey, with scattered spots of umber-brown and sub- 
dued lavender-purple. It is a bird of voracious appetite, 
and preys not only upon fish and the smaller water-fowl, but 
112 
Periodical 
visitant. 
