THE GENUS LARUS. 
273 
of Shetland, in two papers in the fourth volume of the 
Memoirs of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, where 
he describes it under the name of Iceland Gull. Accord- 
ing to his account, it only makes its appearance among the 
Shetland Isles in winter, coming, as he supposes, from the 
Arctic regions, about the middle of autumn, and departing 
toward the end of spring. Its favourite resorts are the en- 
trances of the more exposed bays, or the ocean, a few miles 
off the land. It is greedy and voracious to a proverb, and 
seems peculiarly fond of carrion, occasionally entering the 
bays in quest of it. In its usual deportment it exhibits 
little of the characteristic vivacity of the smaller species, (a 
remark which is equally applicable to the L. marinus) ; 
and does not hover about the sportsman, like them, when 
shot at, but, when once alarmed, commonly flies off : Mr 
Edmondston as above. — Its food consists of fish, carrion 
. of all sorts, and young birds : one specimen, Capt. Sabine 
says, disgorged a little auk when shot, and on dissection 
another was found in the stomach. 
Country. — According to Captain Sabine, they were 
found very common throughout Davis"* Straits and Baffin''s 
Bay, by the Expedition under Captain Ross, in 1818, 
According to Temminck, it inhabits the most northern 
countries in general, but in greater num.bers toward the 
east; said to be very common in Russia. It appears in 
winter in the Shetland Islands, as above. It not being by 
any means certain that this is the L. glmicus of Fabricius, 
&c. little more can be said of its diffusion. 
Distinctive Characters. — In a mature state, this species 
can only be confounded with the preceding, from which it 
differs chiefly in size, as may be seen by comparing the di- 
mensions given in the descriptions. There is a striking 
V0L= V. s 
