336 
LARID.^.. 
in length, or exactly as long as from the carpal joint to the tip 
of the longest quill in an ordinary specimen. 
The Common Gull is a great feeder on earth-worms, slugs, 
and such like produce of the land, rendering essential seiA’ice 
to the tiller of the ground alike in field and garden. Whether 
it he over the land or at sea, these birds are very ready at 
hacking one another up in any trouble, hurrying together to the 
rescue, and heating olf an intrusive Sparrowhawk or Arctic 
Skua with great courage, their loud yelping cries giving much 
animation to the scene. 
The colours of the hare parts are as follows : — Adult male 
(end of ]\Iarch) — eye [dark brown] ; edges of eyelids and angles 
of mouth, orange red ; hill, dull greenish yellow, with a dusky 
stain near the angle of the lower mandible ; legs and feet, 
dull gTeenish yellow, darker between the scales ; claws, blackish 
grey, paler at the base. In the female the colours are the same 
more stained with dusky. 
THE ICELAND GULL. 
Larus Islandicus. 
The explorer in Shetland must hear in mind that the Ice- 
land scorie, of which he may chance to hear, is not this bird, 
but its greater congener, the Glaucous Gull. Apart from the 
difference in size, the two bear a very close resemblance to 
one another, save only that the present species is relatively 
longer in the wing. For the first introduction of both one and 
the other to the British fauna we are indebted to the early re- 
searches of Dr. L. Edmondston, which did so much in their day 
for the elucidation of the natural history of the northern parts 
of the kingdom. 
The present species is much less frequently met with than 
the Glaucous Gull, and indeed may be called comparatively 
rare. It is a regular winter visitor, however, usually taking its 
dejjarture toward the latter end of IMarch, though I have upon 
