THE HERRING-GULL. 
367 
thirty adult and young appeared on a low rock, and at another 
place a few were seen. 
In the month of August 1826, I met with both young and old 
herring-gulls on the eastern and western shores of Italy, and in 
June 1841, at a high rocky islet near Paros. 
The following communication which I made to the Zoological 
Society of London in 1835, is here copied from the ‘ Proceed- 
ings ’ of that year, p. 83 : — 
“ Having lately submitted six mature specimens of the herring-gull 
of the north of Ireland to a critical examination, similar to that pur- 
sued in the second volume of the ‘ Northern Zoology, 5 by Mr. Swain- 
son and Hr. Richardson, I ascertained their identity with L. argenta - 
toides of that work (vol. ii. p. 417). The largest and the smallest 
of these specimens differed in total length from 22-1 to 24-1 inches, and 
in their tarsi from 27 to 32 lines. The second quill in two individuals 
exhibited, in addition to the white tip, “ a round white spot in its 
inner web, 55 in this respect agreeing with the L. argentatoides , as 
described in the e Northern Zoology, 5 and previously by C. L. Bona- 
parte, in his ‘Synopsis of the Birds of the United States 5 (Ann. 
Lyc. New York, vol. ii. p. 360) ; the second quill in three of the others 
wants thi£ white spot, in which particular it agrees with that of the 
L. argentatus , as contradistinguished by Bonaparte from the L. argen- 
tatoides {vide as above) : the same quill on the sixth specimen is in an 
intermediate state, a round white spot not more than one-eightli of an 
inch across, appearing on it in the one wing, the second quill of the 
other wing in the same individual exhibiting a white spot fully half an 
inch in diameter ; thus proving that this marking is so inconstant that 
it should not be relied on as a character. 55 
I have been pleased to see that L. argentatoides does not ap- 
pear as distinct from L . argentatus in the Prince of Musignanu’s 
Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and North America, 
published in 1838. M. Temminck considers the two names to 
apply but to the one species (‘ Manuel/ part iv. 1840). 
Notes on the Goblins and lambay , with a Description of the 
Manner of Descending RocJcs for Birds and Eggs. 
When visiting, in May 1849, the range of cliffs, called the 
