ICELAND GULL. 
183 
eonsiderably larger; the wings, however, proportionally 
shorter; the general shape of the body fuller, and less 
tapering ; the neck is unusually thick and strong ; its flight 
is more equal and measured, and has less of that kite-like 
soaring which others of its tribe affect. The bill is long 
and powerful, not so much hooked as that of the Larus 
marimis ; and when the bird is alive, it is of a pale-yellow 
colour, with a patch of a deeper shade near the point of the 
lower mandible ; its length is four inches. 
This specimen was a very distinct male, and was shot in 
Balta Sound, Zetland, in November last (1821), out of a 
flock of two or three hundred of this species. 
In some specimens that I have examined, in Zetland, 
hardly any grey was to be seen on the head or neck, and 
such I consider as in the more perfect and permanent 
plumage. 
When I first described this species in 1814, I was not 
aware that any thing similar to it had been noticed by orni- 
thological writers, the remote situation of Zetland being so 
little favourable for my consulting books on natural history, 
I have since, however, found species described, which, in 
some points, seem to agree with the Iceland Gull; but 
these descriptions are so brief and obscure, at least so far 
as my ornithological research has been carried, that little 
accurate or full information from them can be obtained. 
It would be superfluous to repeat here what was detailed 
in the paper already referred to, regarding the habits of this 
bird. I might simply state, that the observations then 
made, have been since amply and satisfactorily confirmed. 
I have especially remarked, in this species, the ab- 
sence of that instinct so conspicuous and interesting in 
its congenerous birds most allied to it in size and gene- 
ral appearance, wliich renders them so hostile to the 
sportsman, by warning other animals of his approach. It 
