SABINE'S GULL. 261 



SABINE'S GULL. 



Xema sabinii. 



This Gull is a rare straggler to the British coast, being an 

 inhabitant of the polar regions. It was first noticed by 

 Captain, afterwards General Sir Edward Sabine, when 

 accompanying one of the expeditions in search of a North- 

 West passage, on a group of low rocks on the west coast of 

 Greenland. It gets its food on the sea beach, standing 

 near the water's edge, and picking up the marine insects 

 which are cast ashore. See Mr. Dresser's ' Birds of Europe,' 

 vol. viii. p. 338. 



In the severe weather of December 1853, a specimen of 

 this Gull was obtained by the gardener of Mr. Catt, at the 

 Tide Mill, near Newhaven ; it was an immature bird, and 

 was recorded by me in the ' Zoologist ' (p. 4408) . Another 

 immature specimen was picked up in a dying state at Hove 

 in September 1871 ; on examination there were no shot- 

 marks found on the skin, and as it was in good condition, it 

 seems probable that it had flown against some object. It is 

 now in my own collection. Mr. Dawson Howley records 

 another in the same plumage, shot at Hove during a severe 

 equinoctial gale on October 7th, 1858; and lastly one is 

 mentioned by Mr. Harting in his ' Handbook of B. B.' on 

 the authority of Mr. J. H. Gurney, as killed near East- 

 bourne, October 18th, 1870. In addition to the above I am 

 informed by Mr. Pratt, of Queen's Road, Brighton, that he 

 had received one, killed at Black Rock, near that town, 

 and two from Portslade. 



