148 
LARID.E. 
In the beginning of April the adult birds of the Glaucus 
Gull arrive in Iceland and resort to the narrowest inlets 
on the coast; the young and immature also arrive at that 
period, but do not frequent the same places, nor are they 
sutFered to keep company with the former. Parties, num¬ 
bering from ten to twenty, make their aiTangeinents for 
breeding in a favourite spot, and invariably on the highest 
shelves of the rocks ; the nests are composed of sea-weeds, 
marine herbage, and dry sticks, and are generally lined 
with dry grasses ; their diameter frequently exceeds two 
feet, their depth is six inches, and their construction shows 
want of care, but is nevertheless tolerably strong. 
In the month of May the female deposits her two or three 
eggs, which resemble those of the great black-backed gull, 
and are said to differ from the latter only in being more of 
an olive green when in a fresh state. After four weeks’ 
incubation the young appear in their downy garb, and by 
the end of July they are sufficiently fledged to leave the 
nest. 
The parent birds feed their nestlings with fish and other 
marine productions, besides which they are supplied with 
the eggs and young of other species of birds. 
The food of the Glaucus Gull consists of fish, offal, carrion, 
and smaller water-birds, all of which it devours with a 
voracious appetite. 
The habits of this bird differ from those of other gulls, in 
being less alert and noisy, although it is capable of exertion 
when hunger or danger presses. 
In consequence of its shyness the Glaucus Gull is not 
easily approached within gun-shot, but fishermen ma^ ge¬ 
nerally capture them by baiting a hook with some offal, 
on account of the constant gluttony of their appetite. 
The Glaucus Gull in the adult state measures from two 
