Capt. SABINE’ s Memoir on the Birds of Greenland, §c. 541 
speculum white. In this state it has been described by Brünnich 
as the Uria Balthica, No. 115. In mature winter plumage the 
whole bird is more or less speckled, and the upper feathers of the 
wing spot become tipt with black, giving it a mottled appearance. 
It is then the Uria Balthica, No. 116, of Brünnich. A male speci- 
men, killed in November at Shetland, having the wing spot mot- 
tled, shows that this circumstance is not peculiar to the females, 
as has been supposed. In the spring the plumage gradually re- 
assumes the black. A male killed in Davis's Straits early in 
June, had the whole head and neck mottled with black and white, 
equally distributed ; the plumage beneath and the back being 
black with a few white feathers dispersed ; the lower part of the 
abdomen gray as in the neck; the speculum still mottled, but 
with the white predominating. This bird was killed on our first 
arrival in the Greenland seas; and it is presumed that the change 
to full summer plumage was proceeding very rapidly, as we did 
not afterwards see a mottled bird. The legs of the November 
and Jüne specimens were red, though not so bright as in sum- 
mer. The breeding plumage is too well known t6 need descrip- 
tion. 
We did not see a variety, unless a specimen killed in September 
having the primaries rusty brown instead of black may be con- 
sidered such : the varieties which are noticed by Gmelin, and a 
by Latham in the Index Ornithologicus and in the Synopsis, and 
which are supposed to be found in different. places, are referable 
to the changes of plumage which this bird undergoes during the 
winter. 
4A2 16. Co- 
