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THE FORKED-TAILED GULL. 



Larus Sabini, Sabine. 

 PLATE CCLXXXV. Male. 



On my return from Labrador, I had the pleasure of seeing this inte 

 resting little Gull flying over the harbour of Halifax in Nova Scotia. It was 

 in company with our Common American Gull. Although I have not ob- 

 served it on our eastern shores or farther south on the coast, it is not im- 

 probable that it rambles there in winter along with other species which, like 

 itself, breed far north. Its flight in some measure resembles that of the 

 Common Tern, although it is more decided, and, consequently, more like 

 that of the smaller species of its own genus. In the course of a voyage from 

 Pictou in Nova Scotia to Hull in England, lately performed by my friend 

 Mr Thomas MacCulloch, he saw great numbers of this species when 

 more than a hundred miles off" Newfoundland. They flew around the ship 

 in company with an almost equal number of Ross's Gull. 



Dr Richardson gives the following account of the Forked-tailed Gull, 

 in the Fauna Boreali- Americana. " This interesting species of Gull was 

 discovered by Captain Edward Sabine. It was first seen on the /J5th 

 of July at its breeding station on some low rocky islands lying off" the 

 west coast of Greenland, associated in considerable numbers with the 

 Arctic Tern, the nests of both birds being intermingled. It is analogous 

 to the Tern not only in its forked tail, and in its choice of a breeding 

 place, but also in the boldness which it displays in the protection of its 

 young. The parent birds flew with impetuosity towards persons approach- 

 ing their nests, and when one was killed, its mate, though frequently fired 

 at, continued on the wing close to the spot. They were observed to get 

 their food on the sea-beach, standing near the waters edge, and picking 

 up the marine insects which were cast on shore. A solitary individual 

 was seen in Prince Regent's Inlet, on Sir Edward Parry's first voyage, 

 and many specimens were procured in the course of the second voyage on 

 Melville Peninsula. Captain Sabine also killed a pair at Spitzbergen, 

 so that it is a pretty general summer visitor to the Arctic Seas, and is en- 

 titled to be enumerated amongst the European as well as the American 

 birds. It arrives in the high northern latitudes in June, and retires to 

 VOL. 111. N n 



