56 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 



the webs darker, the claws black. Length 141 inches ; wing 1 1 inches ; tail 5f ; 

 tarsus 1 inch. Both sexes are alike. 



" The Rocks of St. Paul's, nearly under the Equator, in the Atlantic Ocean," 

 as Mr. Darwin observed, " were almost covered with the rude and simple nests of 

 this bird, made with a few pieces of sea-weed. The females were sitting upon 

 their eggs (in February) and by the side of many of their nests part of flying fish 

 were placed, I suppose, by the male bird for his partner to feed on during the 

 labour of incubation." 



Family— LARIDsE. Subfamih —LARIN^.. 



Sabine's Gull. 



Xema sabinii, J. Sabine. 



THIS very beautiful Gull was first recognized as a British species by Mr. W. 

 Thompson, author of the "Natural History of Ireland," in 1834, when he 

 exhibited, before the Linnean Society, a specimen shot in Belfast Bay, in 1822, 

 which had been, however, previously shown before the Natural History Society of 

 Belfast, in 1833, under the name of Larus mhmtus. 



Since that date it has been taken many times, generally in autumn, both in 

 England (chiefly on its southern and south-eastern coasts) and in Ireland on its 

 eastern side. From Scotland it has been more rarely recorded, though it has been 

 captured in at least four instances. The first specimen was shot in October, 

 1877, on the Firth of Forth, and the second was picked up near the Loch of 

 Sarclet, Caithness, in June, 1885 — a "lovely" adult in summer plumage. A third 

 adult bird was shot on Loch Spilvie, in Mull, in September, 1888 ; a fourth, but 

 immature specimen, was caught at Sliddery, Arran, in September, 1897, and 

 presented to the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, by Mr. John Paterson. 



