THE BONAPARTIAN GULL. 
321 
tained. Since I first noticed the species, a few individuals have 
been procured on the shores of continental Europe. A very rare 
gull, closely allied to the preceding, may also be noticed, although 
it is not, strictly speaking, American, nor has it been obtained 
there in any but a single instance* : — I allude to the 
Lams minutus , 
a beautiful adult example of which, shot in the estuary, about 
three miles from Belfast, on the 23rd of December, 1847, came 
under my examination within an hour after being killed. 
"We cannot think of the occurrence of the three preceding 
species of Xema or black-headed gulls within so limited an area, 
without reflecting that many species of birds of which we are 
now ignorant, may visit the British coasts. If in the estuary at 
Belfast, on the eastern coast of Ireland, North American species 
are thus met with, how much more likely are they to visit, un- 
noticed by any one, the western and northern coasts of the island, 
as well as those of Scotland ! 
“ Of the other Xema, known as British, X. ridibundus and 
X. capistratus (regarded by me as one speciest) are common in 
the locality indicated for the others^ ; the remaining one, 
X. atricilla, has been observed on two occasions on the south 
coast of England, and by Montagu only. Of the two|| additional 
European species, X melanocephalum and X. ichthyaetum, the 
former inhabits f southern/ the latter f south- eastern 3 Europe. 
Xema FranJclini is now the only North American species which 
has not been obtained in Europe.” 
“ * ‘ Faun. Bor. Amer.’ p. 426. The species is not included in the Prince of 
Canino’s subsequently published list of North American Birds. 
“ f See Zool. Proceedings, 1845; — copied into the ‘ Annals,’ vol. xvi. p. 357, 
and Yarrell’s ‘ Brit. Birds/ 2nd edit., preface, p. xi. In the three works, the last 
word of the foot-note is printed ‘ hood 5 instead of head. 
“ % The species of Larus (as distinguished from Xema) frequenting Belfast 
Bay are L. marinas, L. fuscus, L. argentatus, L. canus, L. tridactylus, and 
L. Islandicus ; all of which are common but the last : it was once obtained. Speci- 
mens of these, as well as of the Xemce noticed from the same locality, are preserved in 
the Belfast Museum. [One individual, of the L. glaucus has since been procured.] 
“ || X. plumiceps, Bonap., is not enumerated in the ‘ Wirbelthiere Europa’s/ or 
* Rev. Crit. des Oiseaux d’Europe ’ (Schlegel).” 
VOL. III. 
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