tail, exhibits one point of resemblance to the greater number
of the Teras. Like the Terns, £00, some of the smaller Gulls
assume during the breeding-season a dark-coloured head.
The species of the genus Larus, or the Gulls, are numerous,
and most- of them have a wide geographical range.
They frequent the ocean, many of them living on-the coast,
but occasionally .visiting inland lakes, rivers, and marshes.
“They are voracious feeders, living on fish alive or dead, and
seldom refuse any animal matter that .is- .east ashore by the
tidal waves.- The young differ from the' adult birds in
plumage, and are not allowed to associate with them at the
nesting-place, whether it ‘bedrock or marsh, during the breeding
season. The adult birds undergo a partial change- of
colour in spring,, besides thereegular general moult in autumn:
The sexes do not" differ-in plumage; but the males are larger
than the females, and this difference!®’ so ^considerable in the
Gulls of large size as in some instances to have led to the
supposition of new, or distinct species.
We are indebted to Wm. Thompson, Esq. of Belfast, for
the first notice of Sabine’s Gull-as an addition to the British
Fauna, and also for a description of the plumage-of the -young
bird in its first autumn dress, which had'ffot previously come
under, the inspection of the ornithologist. The first specimen
was, shot in Belfast Bay, in September, 1 8 2 ^ and was presented
to the Natural History. Society of Belfast, ,for the
museum, in 1838. In the Museum of'the Royal Dublin
Society, Mr. Thompson,, has also pointed out a second example
ofi this Gull, which is also in the plumage of the first
autumn. This bird was shot in Dublin Bay by Mr. Wall,
the curator. In October, 1887, H. H. Dombrain, Esq.,' of
Dublin, wrote me word that he had l | l tained a third example
of this Gull, which was also a young bird of the year. Since
then I have notes of one killed at Milford Haven, in the
autumn of 1889, and another shot in Cambridgeshire was
shown to me by Dr. Fitch. This last bird is now in the
collection of J. T. Martin, Esq. of Quy Hall. M. Tem-
minck, in the 4th Part of his Manual, notices three instances
of the occurrence of this species known to him; one, a young
bird, killed on the coast of Holland; a second, killed on the
Rhine; and a third near Rouen. M. Temminck has also
noticed that there is One example of this bird in the museum
at Vienna.
This species of Gull was first described in the 12th volume
of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, page 520, by the
late Joseph Sabine, 'Es<p from specimens sent by his brother,
Captain Edward-Sabine, of• the Royal Artillery, who accompanied
the expedition of 1818 in search of a North-West
Passage. The account o f;these, birds was that “ they were
met?’with by Captain Sabinepand killed by him on the 25th
of July-, , 1818, on a group of three, rocky islands, each about
a mile across, on the west coast of Greenland, twenty miles
distant from the, mainland in latitude 75° 29' N., and longitude
W. They,Vere associated in considerable numbers
with Arctic-Terns, breediiig on those islands, the nests
gf> both birds being intermingled^ This Gull lays two eggs
on the. bare ground; these,-,are hatched the last week in J u ly ;
theiyoung are mottled at first with brown and dull yellow.
The eggs are an inch and a half in length, and of regular
shape, not much pointed; the colour is olive, blotched with
brown. • The parent birds flew with impetuosity towards persons
approaching their nests- and young ; and when one bird
of; a pair was killed, its mate, though frequently fired at continued
on wing close to the 'spot where it lay. They get
their food on th e . sea-beach, standing near the water’s edge
and picking up the marine insects which are cast on shore.”
During the ’second Arctic voyage one bird of this species
was seen in Prince Regent’s In le t; afterwards many specimens
were obtained on Melville Peninsula. It has been