NATATORES. L A R I D Æ . the name of Larus leucopterus has occasionally been taken in
T H E ICELAND GULL,
or Lesser White-winged Gull»
■Larus tcelandicus, Iceland 'Gull, Flem. Brit» An. p. 139.
- ■ , . ,, ‘ ■ Selby, Brit.,Qrnith. vol.;ii45,p.5SOFr ,
‘ W- - ^ ■ E g JEyyys, Brit. Yer t.p . ^ t -
leucppierus., „ ,, ' EY%ON,"Rare Brit. Birds, p. 59.
' Icelandicus, - „ Gould, Birds of Europe, pt. xx,
,, glaucoides, Mouette,leucoptere, Temm. Man.'d’-Q^nith.^oL iv. p. 468.
,, leucopterus, ,, ,, , ,, — ,, , ,, P* 4Q7; c
This White-winged Gull, originally described by
Faber, in Ms Prodromus of the Ornithology o£ Iceland, under
this country, and was at first confounded with the Glaucous
Gull, another rare species, having also white wings, and only
'differing front it in being considerably larger. I t happens
too that the various names which have been proposed for it,
noU excepting that of leucopterus, White-winged, given by
Faber himself, are not, wholly free from objection* since both
iSlese Gull are .glaucioftii^in. reference to colour, both are inhabitants
of Iceland, and both have the principal wing-feathers
white. The Iceland Gull: bears rthe same proportion in size
lO -|§ke Glaucous Gull, that the^Lesser Black-backed Gull does
#>the Great BlacS-backed Gull, and I have therefore added
"an English name referring to size by which they may be distinguished.
Dr. Richardson’s notice of this species in the
Fauna Boreali-Ahfericana may be quoted in kid of this view.
'^d^qrus :ledcopterils>¥aber. During Captain Ross’s and Sir'
Edward' ‘Parry’s first 'voyage’s, many specimens of this Gull
'We-rfe;obtained in' Davis’ Straits, Baffin’s Bay, and at Melville
Island. M. Teihminck, to whom they were communicated,
! qj&ksidered 'itTa-t- first to«'he-merely an Arctic-variety of Larus
argentatusj.. tfe- Herrihg G u ll; and, in deference to his
authority, it was described*^ such by Captain Sabine. Both
he and other Ornithologists have;* however, since that time,
published it as a distinct-species, under different appellations,
‘the one which we have ’selected having the priority. The
plumage of L. leucopterus differs little from that of L.
glaucust f Tfeihwe great superiority of thedatter bird in size
ist sufficient» to' distinguish the species.’-' Captain James C.
Ross says of this species, in his last Appendix, “ it was found
!vibreeding on the face of the same precipice with the Glaucous,
but at a much l.eSS‘ height, and in greater numbers. I t is not
unfrequently met with at the Shetland Islands in the winter
season, and may4, ‘ therefore be added; to our catalogue of
British Birds.” Mr. Audubon says it- is not rare in winter