439 



LARUS LEUCOPTERUS. 



(ICELAND GULL.) 



Larus argentatus, Sabine, Trans. Linn. Soc. xii. p. 546 (1818, nee auctt.). 



Larus leucopterus, Faber, Prodr. isl. Orn. p. 91 (1822). 



"Larus glaucoides, Temrn.," Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 562. 



Larus islandicus, Edmonst. Mem. Wern. Soc. iv. p. 506 (1823). 



Larus arcticus, Macgillivray, Mem. Wern. Soc. v. p. 268 (1824). 



Larus minor, C. L. Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 736 (1831). 



Laroides glaucoides, C. L. Brehm, op. cit. p. 744 (1831). 



Laroides leucopterus (Fab.), C. L. Brehm, op. cit. p. 745 (1831). 



Laroides subleucopterus, C. L. Brehm, op. cit. p. 746 (1831). 



Glaucus leucopterus (Fab.), Bruch, J. fur Orn. 1853, p. 101. 



Glaucus glacialis, Bruch, J. fur Orn. 1853, p. 101. 



Leueus leucopterus (Fab.), Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. ii. p. 217 (1857). 



Plautus leucopterus, Reich., fide Bp. ut supra (1857). 



Goeland leucoptere, French ; Polar-Meve, Heine weissschwingige Meve, German ; Kleins 

 Burgemeesster, Dutch ; Hvidvinget Maage, Danish ; Valmaasi, Fseroese ; Nyangoak, 

 Greenlandic ; Hvit-mdfur, Grd mdfur, Icelandic ; Hvitvingad Trut, Swedish. 



Figurw notabiles. 



Kjserb. Orn. Dan. taf. 41 ; Naumann, Vog. Deutschl. taf. 265 ; Gould, B. of Eur. pi. 433 ; 

 id. B. of G. Brit. v. pi. 58 ; Reichenb. Syst. Av. pi. 26. figs. 827, 829. 



Ad. etjuv. Laro glauco omnino similis, sed minor. Ad. culm. 25 poll., al. 16'8, caud. 7 - 6, tars. 2 - 5. 



Adult Male (Greenland). Differs from Larus glaucus only in being smaller in size, measuring — culmen 

 2 - 5 inches, height of bill at the base 0'65, wing 16*8, tail 7 m Q, tarsus 2 - 5. 



Young. Resembles the young of L. glaucus, but is smaller in size. 



Adult in winter. Similar in plumage as in summer, except that the head and neck are narrowly streaked 

 with dull light brownish grey. 



This species of Gull, which bears about the same affinity to Larus glaucus as Larus fuscus does 

 to L. marinus, inhabits the high latitudes of the Palsearctic and Nearctic Regions, straggling 

 southward only during the autumn and winter ; but it appears that the young birds are those 

 which are more frequently met with, the fully adult ones being seldom seen away from the 

 far north. It visits the British Isles during the winter, usually in small numbers, but some- 

 times in tolerably large quantities, and is seen in almost all parts of our coasts down to the 



