and the egg, which is of a pale olive-colour blotched with
brown, is now in the Museum of Seience and Art in Dublin.
It is figured with, full details by Dr. Carte in the Journal of
the Royal Dublin Society (voli, p. 57, pi. 1), and measures
2*5 by 1*7 in. Major Feilden observed the" Ivory Gull
frequently in Smith Sound up to lah.f 82^-. 20" ~N., and
found a pair nesting in a lofty and inaccessible cliff near
Cape Hayes, on the 16th pf August, 1875. In Baffin B ay #
is plentiful; and both adult and immature birds are annually
obtained in Greenland. Jn winter it straggles d,own the
Atlantic seaboard as far as Labrador, Newfoundland, a ad
New Brunswick.
The natural food of this species has already been described
by Mr. Eaton; and in addition< to-the refuse provided by
sealers and whalers, if h&s been-'observed to -^devour the
droppings of walruses and seals. ■ Malmgren sa^s' that Ire
has often seen numbers of Ivory Gulls sitting for hours
round the holes in the ice through'which the-"seals come up,
and looking as if sitting in oouncil round a taMé^-a practice
which has doubtless given rise to the'curious.name- used'by
Martens in 1675 for this Gull, viz., 1 RathsherrVg/fcoYm -
eillor), a name 'analogous in its derivation 4to ^ that’ of
i Bürgermeister ^| (mayOh)| used- for the Glaucous?-GulL
Major. Feilden says that its'note is shrill, and not unlike
that of the-Arctic Tern, and its-flight is more like that of a
Tern than of an ordinary Gull.
The adult bird in summer has thé bill greenish grey at
the base and about the nostrils, the anterior portion yellow;
the irides dark hair-brown,- eyelids brick-red a# the' edge';
the whole' of the plumage, including the-wingand the tail-
feathers, a pure and delicate-white, slightly «rosy in life ; the
legs black. | The whole length iS' from shxteW't-o eighteen
inches, depending on age and sex:,-/from the same pause<the"
wing, from the anterior joint to the end of the longest quilt-
feathèr,' varies from twelve and a half to thirteen’inches.
Somè small, 4ong-4v|®gëd and - sh©rfc4egged;-examples, were
distinguished „by Holböll .bythe name of Larus hmehyimsus;
biit these differences do not seemltobe; constant#
Sabine describes a specimen killed during the first week in
June, at Greenland, apparently a bird of the preceding year,
as having a few light brown feathers about the bill, extending
towards the eyes*-; „ a very small transverse band of brown
spots across the primary wing-coverts, thickest at the» point
of the wing; the primary quill and the tail-feathers slightly
tipped with brown. - A bird still younger than the last had
the ends; _o£ the primary quill-feathers, and ofy|,he. tail-
feathers, tipped with brown.. ~
The nearly fledged young are described by Richardson
(Journal of a Boat^yoyage, p. 281) as having ash-grey backs;
but with regard to th e subsequent .stages of plumage there is
an absence of satisfactory details, anddhe Editor can only
pladS the following facts before his readers. In the autumn
of 18'8u,-;- Mri Leigh fknith brought back from Franz-Josef
Land a bird;.which was supposed tp-jbe the survivor of several
youpg taken from fhe nest, and which was presented to the
Zoological Gardens. -Its prevailing tone was «grey, owing
perhaps -to the saturation “of the plumage with grease and
dirt--acquired on board the steam-yacht, where the bird is
said frequented the stoke-holebut after constant
washing sjnefeits. arrival at the ^Gardens, the bird -still
remained of« a smoke-grey, nflarly as dark as a Fulmar
Petrel on ^ e .mpper parts, and especially so on _ the tail-
coverts^. the ffeatflfei’S of ih e back and wing-coverts having
slightly darkgr^,shafts; -apd^the- head bearing hot merely a
mask, but a short hgOikof a darker greyihan the neck and
the under parts. The- tail was- reduced by abrasion^» a mere
stump.. Such was the description' given by the Editor- when
the bird was supposed- to be from three to-four months old
(Zool. 1886, p. 484)1 and its correctness 'can jbe corroborated
by other observers. It was naturally expected that at the
next moultsthe—bird would pass into -the well-known spotted
p&rStrgey* but no’spots made their appearance, and this
example ’at - once assumed the pure white, plumage which#
now' (April,- I884#displays. This 'omission; of the spotted
stage, may perhaps he :owing to captiyit^ in a comparatively
warm climate : the' Editor i&uanable to.aGpQunt for it.