BIRDS 435 



their favourite turf, ruffling up their feathers and pacing 

 solemnly round it before they commenced to attack the dummy 

 with their powerful mandibles. 1 This Gull is far from dainty 

 in its tastes, and few animal substances are rejected as food, but 

 the ground upon which these young birds were bred was covered 

 at the time of their capture with remains of fish, including the 

 skeleton of a small cod ; the birds themselves disgorged the 

 bodies of two fine eels, which were nearly fresh, and must have 

 been swallowed only a short time before. 



GLAUCOUS GULL. 



Larus glaucus, Fabricius. 



Opportunities for studying the habits of this fine Arctic Gull 

 are extremely rare on the north-west coast of England. Mr. 

 W. Duckworth observed a Glaucous Gull ' of a deep creamy 

 tinge ' flying down to the estuary of the Leven on the 23rd of 

 November 1888. A very similar specimen was shot on the 

 same day of the month at Ravenglass in 1877. Messrs. Mann 

 once obtained an immature bird when following the plough 

 near Allonby. Another was shot (and lost) near Bowness-on- 

 Solway in the winter 1883-84; so that it has occurred singly 

 all round our coast. The only instance in which I have met 

 with the Glaucous Gull locally occurred in January 1890, during a 

 heavy westerly gale which inflicted great damage on shipping 

 in the Atlantic. On the 25th of that month I walked along 

 the coast from Mayport to Silloth, and when nearing Allonby 

 fell in with a large Glaucous Gull, in nearly full dress, though 

 still retaining on the back a few feathers of immaturity. Most 

 of the Herring and Common Gulls, and all those of the Black- 

 headed species, had sought shelter on the shores of a small 

 'dub' screened from the gale, but the Glaucous Gull was resting 

 alone upon a ridge of the pebbled beach. He seemed tired and 

 unwilling to move, but, when disturbed, took a short flight and 

 alighted near a Herring Gull, thus affording an interesting 

 comparison between the two species. Some of his wing feathers 



1 In September 1891 this female Larus marinus was killed by an 

 escaped fox. 



