Kumlien's Gull
Larus glaucoides kumlieni Brewster, 1883 (1, 0)
Photo © Kris Webb - Star Castle, St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly, 20 November 2020
Sub-species
STATUS
Holarctic.
OVERVIEW
Treated as a subspecies of Iceland Gull (Gill F, D Donsker & P Rasmussen (Eds). 2021. IOC World Bird List (v11.1)).
RECORD
1). 1869 Orkney Breck Ness, Stromness, Mainland, obtained, 24th November, now at Natural History Museum, Tring (BMNH 1897.11.10.11).
(BOURC (1997), Ibis 139: 200; D. N. Weir, R. Y. McGowan, A. C. Kitchener, S. McOrist, B. Zonfrillo & M. Heubeck, British Birds 88: 23; M. J. Rogers and the Rarities Committee, British Birds 91: 481; R. Prys-Jones, British Birds 93: 278; Forrester & Andrews et al., 2007; BOURC (2009), Ibis 151: 226).
History R. Prys-Jones (2000) in British Birds, Vol. XCIII. p. 278, in a Letter, states that Weir et al. (1995) while researching for their paper on Iceland Gulls from the Braer disaster discovered a British specimen of the race L. g. kumlieni that was taken on 24th November 1869 at the Natural History Museum, Tring; it had been assumed to be of the nominate race. It was pointed out and subsequently accepted by the BOURC (1998). However, the registration number and the provenance of the specimen were given wrongly in each case. Both on the original label and in its register entry, the specimen is recorded only as having been taken at 'Breckness', but this was apparently misread as Brackness and then assumed to be Blacksness, a locality in Scalloway, Shetland; in consequence, both of the above references gave the provenance simply as 'Shetland'. But, Breck Ness is a locality in Mainland Orkney, about 3 km west of Stromness. Corroboration of the specimen came in the fact that it was obtained by Edward Hargitt, who was closely associated with Orkney specimens at around the same time in 1869.
