504 
ic$:land gull. 
and head, tinged with blue and ashy colour, of a paler 
shade than what occurs on the same situations in the larger 
species. The bill was smaller than even that of the Her- 
ring-Gull. The irides were evidently in a state of change, 
and of a dingy yellow colour ; the back was very pale blue : 
in other respects it was similar to the greater species of the 
same name. A specimen is exhibited, of what I conceive 
to he one of these birds in its first yearns plumage, which 
will illustrate some of these remarks. The difference of 
size, especially of the bill, will appear very striking. The 
general brownish ash-colour of the plumage is also paler 
than in the young of the larger species of equal age ; and 
the dingy spots occasionally occurring on both are, in the 
Lesser, fainter and less numerous. It is precisely by such 
analogous differences alone, that the young of the other 
species of gull are distinguished from each other. This 
individual was also killed in Zetland, but its sex could not 
be determined. These Lesser Iceland Gulls are much 
more rarely met with than the Larger, with which they 
do not appear often to mingle ; but when seen accident- 
ally together, the difference of size and general appearance 
seems very obvious. The mature plumage I believe to be 
almost the same as that of the Greater Iceland Gull, or 
Larus glaucus of Pennant's Arctic Zoology, and of 
Latham ; and in this state it would agree precisely with 
the Larus argentatus^ or Silvery Gull of the same authors, 
and also of Brunnich, and the older northern natu- 
ralists. 
Temminck, in his very able and accurate work {Manuel 
d'Ornithologie), seems to regard the Larus argentatus as a 
mere variety of the Herring-Gull, and has transferred its 
name to this latter species ; considering the variety, which 
he regards as chiefly consisting in the white colour of the 
tips of the primaries, as the result of a residence in an arc- 
