from Nova Scotia to New Y ork. I have not found any
description or figure of the egg.
Professor Nilsson includes this -species in his Fauna of
Scandinavia, and it is found at the Faroe Islands:'»
The substance: of Faber’s remarks on this species may be
thus given p*-—In size betweenLarus canus, thhOommon Tsul-l
and Larus argentatus, the Herring Gull. Thfö&is%the only
Gull that passes the winter ip Iceland without-breeding i|s|§|t|:
in summer', It must, like Larus eburneus, the Ivory Gull,
breed in the higher northern regions, and corné;to Icelanddn
winter as a bird of passage. I haye travelled fôflèiî'most of
the coast of the island, but have never found utad&eedi-ns'-
place. There was no L. leucopterus on the'1 rocks of Faxe
or Rredebugt towards the west, where; L._ gZawcw#brb§3&.i in
large colonies. • A few days after the middle oYSeptfembei'
the first specimens, both old and.v-young, make theirs appearance
on the coast oflceland, -confining themsekves: to the
northern parts among the small inlets of which great numbers'
pass the- winter. - When I lived on' the innermost .of' the
small fiords on the northern coast, these birds^wëré our daily
guest«;- Towards the end of April, their-fimnbers.dcc-T-ca^Cfb
and ‘by the end of May they had nearly all' disappbarecFfrom
Iceland. ThnSe tame birds camebon land by mybwinter
dwelling on the northern coast," to snap up the entrails thrown
away by the inhabitants, arid>foUght fiercely'for them; »with
the Raven. I had made one so tame that it cam me very
mOînilag at a certain time ,4®. my door, to obtain food^and-
then flew.away again. I t gave me'notice o f its arrivalhhyaits
cry.- This Gull indicated to the; seal-«h'ooters in the -fiord
where they should-look, for the seal«/by con tin ually>;following
their track in the sea, and hovering in flocks,' and with incessant
cries over them ; and whilst the.- seals hunted tiâêri
sprat and the capeling tbwards the surface of the water, these-
Gulls precipitated themselves down upon the fish and snapped*
them up. ' In like manner they follow the track of the codfish
in the sea,- to feed upon the, booty hunted up by this fish
of prey.' In the winter of 182Ct-21, which I passed at Dre-
batte, on the southern coast,: there was not a single L. leu-
copterus tobbewseen; on the 1st of March, 1821, the shore
was almost . .free- of'-sea-gulls ; but as I stepped out of my
room early on tire 2nd of March* the air was almost filled
with, a species? of Larus which, had appeared suddenly. As I
approached and |%>ked up at them, I. soon recognised my
LMeuOopterus% which had arrived in great numbers during
•the night.' The- Icelanders concluded,-from the sudden appearance
uo^tht'e'se/' Gulls, thdt shoals of codfish must have
arrived bn ihicoast. They got ready then» boats and nets,
and the .-fish had in truth arrived in such numbers that the
fishing for that season commenced immediately.; Here, where
hitherto an ornithological, quiet'had reigned,^everything now
became enlivened through -the arrival*; these birds, which,
^without vinter-missibn,' and with incessant criesfhoveredover the
-•het&. If I wish^| to shoot-'this Gull I observed the-time
wheh,;.the fishing-boats' landed, and "this- tame bird-followed
the boats, to- shot©in order to f e e d 'l l the parts which were
throwu%uwaybyJhe; fishermen. I heard afterwards, that this
particular' s,pecies\of -Gull hadobeia v q p scarce 'during that
Winter o&’the. northern coast; the- Greeniandiice- had filled up
‘all the?inlets there,pand the birds ;wferc/thus driven to the
’southern -shore, wherepL had again thje opportunity of observing,
them.' In this year, 1821, they-remained on the. southern
‘Coast till the middle of May, pwfehvthey. entirely left it to
proceed ^northward .riff ftlreja|.fereedang=places. This Gull was
.my^wea-thwgiidb in winter. I f p t, swam near the shore, and
-there, as if Anxious, |bahyed along with its feathers puffed out,
then I -knew that on;th© following; day storms and snow were
to rbteexpeeted-: Tn fin© weathqr. it soared high in the air.
They oftemsit-by hundreds on a piece of ice, and in that way