WHALE-GULL. .iOT 



Head latliev large, ovato-oblong, anteriorly narrowed. 

 Eyes rather small ; eyelids feathered, with bare crenvilate 

 margins. Aperture of ear of moderate size, roundish. Neck 

 stout, and of moderate length ; body rather full. Legs very 

 short ; tibia bare to a small extent ; tarsus very short, little 

 compressed, covered anteriorly with nearly straight scutella, 

 laterally and behind with very small prominent scales. Hind 

 toe very small, little elevated, with a stout decurved claw ; 

 fore toes short, though long in comparison with the tarsus, 

 the outer little shorter than the third, all with numerous 

 scutella, flattened and prominently papillate beneath; the 

 lateral thickly margined. Claws of moderate length, strong, 

 well-curved, moderately compressed, rather acute, that of the 

 middle toe with a broadly-expanded thin inner edge. Inter- 

 digital membranes emarginate, strongly crenulate, the outer 

 with a sinus. 



Plumage very full, close, elastic, soft, and blended ; on 

 the back and wings compact. Wings very long, rather 

 broad, pointed, with thirty quills ; primaries broad, the outer 

 two with a sinus on the inner web near the obtuse tip, the 

 first longest ; secondaries rounded. Tail of moderate length, 

 a little rounded, of twelve broad rounded feathers. 



The only species as yet known inhabits the arctic seas, 

 lives on fish and the flesh of dead cetacea, breeds on high 

 cliffs, and in autumn advances southward, but only as far as 

 the northern borders of the temperate regions. This genus 

 may be considered as forming the transition from Larus to 

 Procellaria, as well as to Lestris. The young are dappled 

 with black and white, like Caption capensis, the adult 

 unspotted white. 



