386 
LARID/E. 
were remarked on wing amongst the shipping at that port ; where 
another was observed on the 8th, and, on the following day, one 
appeared at Seamount. A bird in immature plumage was shot here 
by that gentleman's brother at the end of January, and presented 
to Dr. Harvey for his collection, by whom I have been informed 
that it weighed two pounds; agreed exactly in measurements 
and colour with those described by Edinonston and Selby, but 
the irides were “ dark-brown," instead of “ pale yellowish-grey." 
So much only can I at present say of the Iceland gull as an 
Irish bird. 
In Charles worth's f Magazine of Natural History ' for January 
1838 (vol. ii. p. 5), I noticed this species as follows : — “ Having 
been lately informed that a few rare gulls had appeared about Bal- 
lantrae, in Ayrshire, and that, after displaying for a season some in- 
teresting peculiarities in habits, one had been shot and preserved, 
I embraced my informant's kind offer of bringing it from Scot- 
land for my inspection, on his recent return to this country. It 
proved to be the Iceland gull (A. Islandicus, Linn.), apparently in 
the stage of plumage which immediately precedes maturity. A 
professional gentleman at Ballantrae, into whose possession this 
bird came, and by whom it was preserved, favoured me with the 
following particulars respecting it, in a letter dated October 26, 
1837 . — e At the end of last year, three gulls, of the same kind, 
made their appearance on the shore where the fishermen reside. — 
Two of them were shot in the spring, and the one sent you, in 
June. As they frequented the fishing boats, the men used to 
supply them with fish ; and in a short time they became quite 
familiar, took whatever was thrown to them, but would not allow 
themselves to be caught. They were never observed to go far 
from the place where they were first seen. • The person who gave 
me this information shot the two in the spring, and says that 
every winter one or more are seen on the coast. He cannot say 
where they breed, but is sure there are none on the Craig [of 
Ailsa].' This indifference to the near presence of man, on the 
part of these northern strangers, reminded me of that of the 
first Larus Sabini , — also a native of the arctic regions,— obtained 
