289 
SABINE’S GULL. 
Caras Sdbini. 
PLATE XXIV. 
Xema Sabini, Leach . — Mouette de Sabine, Tahiti . — The 
Sabine, or Sabine’s Gull, of British authors. 
The first British specimens of this gull were noticed 
and brought before the public by William Thomp- 
son, Esq. Belfast, and up to 1839, four specimens 
of this rare species had occurred in different parts 
of the coast, all during the month of September, 
and were all which at that time wore known to 
have been met with within the British range. These 
were noticed in the Magazine of Zoology and Bo- 
tany and in the An nals of Natural History, and we 
were indebted to Mr. Thompson for a drawing of 
the bird in its young plumage, which appeared in 
the Illustrations of Ornithology. Since 1839 Mr, 
Yarrell states that ho has notes of one shot at Mil- 
ford Haven, and another in Cambridgeshire. A few 
straggling specimens have also been killed on the 
Continent, but the true country of the species is in 
the vicinity of the arctic circle. The first speci- 
T 
