386 LARIDiE. 



were remarked on wing amongst the shipping at that port ; where 

 another was observed on the 8th, and, on the following day, one 

 appeared at Seamount. A bird in immature plumage was shot here 

 by that gentleman's brother at the end of January, and presented 

 to Dr. Harvey for his collection, by whom I have been informed 

 that it weighed two pounds; agreed exactly in measurements 

 and colour with those described by Edmonston and Selby, but 

 the irides were " dark-brown," instead of " pale yellowish-grey." 

 So much only can I at present say of the Iceland gull as an 

 Irish bird. 



In Charlesworth's ' Magazine of Natural History ' for January 

 1838 (vol. ii. p. 5), I noticed this species as follows : — "Having 

 been lately informed that a few rare gulls had appeared about Bal- 

 lantrae, in Ayrshire, and that, after displaying for a season some in- 

 teresting peculiarities in habits, one had been shot and preserved, 

 I embraced my informant's kind offer of bringing it from Scot- 

 land for my inspection, on his recent return to tliis country. It 

 proved to be the Iceland gull {L. Islandiciis, Linn.), apparently in 

 the stage of plumage which immediately precedes maturity. A 

 professional gentleman at Ballantrae, into whose possession this 

 bird came, and by whom it was preserved, favoured me with the 

 following particulars respecting it, in a letter dated October 26, 

 1837. — 'At the end of last year, three gulls, of the same kind, 

 made their appearance on the shore where the fishermen reside. — 

 Two of them were shot in the spring, and the one sent you, in 

 June. As they frequented the fishing boats, the men used to 

 supply them with fish ; and in a short time they became quite 

 familiar, took whatever was thrown to them, but would not allow 

 themselves to be caught. They were never observed to go far 

 from the place where they were first seen. The person who gave 

 me this information shot the tv^'o in the spring, and says that 

 every winter one or more are seen on the coast. He cannot say 

 where they breed, but is sure there are none on the Craig [of 

 Ailsa].' This indifference to the near presence of man, on the 

 part of these northern strangers, reminded me of that of the 

 first Lams Sabinif — also a native of the arctic regions, — obtained 



