GULLS 



39 



if such sentiment prevailed elsewhere throughout the United States. However, within 

 the last few years much progress has been made in protecting these most beautiful dwellers 

 of coasts and marshes. 



IVORY GULL 

 Pagophila alba { ii luiiu-ni.s) 



\. O. U. .Number 39 •'^ec (. olor I'late 6 



Other Name. — Snow-white Gull. 



General Description. — Lengtli, icS inches. White. 



Color. — .\dults ; Entire plumage, l^urc zchilc; shaft 

 of primaries straw yellow; bill, dull greenish, yellow at 

 tip and along cutting edges ; feet, black ; iris, brown ; 

 eyelids, red. Young : Front and sides of head, dusky- 

 gray ; neck all around with irregular spotting of brown- 

 ish-gray ; shoulders and wing-coverts with brownish- 

 black spots, thicker on lesser coverts ; tips of primaries 

 and tail-feathers with dusky spots. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In niches of cliffs; con- 

 structed of gras.^ and seaweed, and lined with moss 

 and a few feathers. Eggs; j to 4, olive-buff, spotted 

 with different shades of brown and gray. 



Distribution. — .\rctic seas; breeds from Melville 

 Island and northern Baffin Land to northern Green- 

 land and Arctic islands of eastern hemisphere; win- 

 ters in the e.xtreme north, rarely south to British Colum- 

 bia. Lake Ontario, and Long Island. N. Y. ; in Europe 

 south to France. 



The first word uf the scieiitiiic iKinic of the 

 Ivory Gull expresses its chief cliaracteristic, just 

 as the second word — alba, the Latin for " white " 

 — is descriptive of its plumage. Patjophila is 

 from two Greels: words meaning " ice " and 

 "loving." Hence this beatitiful snow-white (itill 

 is a rare visitant to the temperate zone of this 

 continent from its home in the Arctic seas. The 

 only verified record of the appearance of the 

 bird in New York seems to be that furnished by 

 William Dutcher of one shot in Great South Baw 

 L. I., near Sayville, in January, 1893. Another 

 observer reports having seen a single member 



of the species near Alt. Sinai Harbor, in Suft'olk 

 Countv, N. V. In summer it occurs frequently 

 on the Arctic islands of the eastern hemisphere. 

 ;ind in winter it r.anges soiUhward to France. 



rile greenish-vellow Iieak and tlie black legs are 

 in striking contrast t(i its beiuUilul snovv-wiiite 

 plumage. It differs from other ( lulls in the com- 

 parative shortness of its beak, and slightly taper- 

 ing tail. 



The Ivory Gull is a glutton whenever it can 

 iibtain the flesh of seals or the bluliber of whales. 



It will watch a seal-hole in the ice. waiting for 

 the seal, whose excrement it devours. 



KITTIWAKE 

 Rissa tridactyla tridactyla ( Liinncus) 



.\. <» I'. .Xumber 40 



Other Names. — Common Kittiwake; Kittiwakc Gull; 

 I'lck-nic-up ; Coddy-Moddy ; Tarrock. 



General Description. — Length, i8 inches. Color, 

 wliitc with pale grayish-blue mantle. I linii to<\ ahsnit 

 or iiniiinciitary : tail, slightly notched. 



Color. — .Xdui.ts in Summer: Head and neck all 

 around, under parts, and tail, pure white; mantle, 

 pale grayish-blue; wing-coverts and secondaries similar, 



Stt- Cuior riate 6 



latter white on tips : l^riiiiarirx. hlackislt-l'liie with white 

 oblong spaces on inner webs, the second, third and 

 fourth with white ti|)s; /(■(■/, hldckish: hill, light xcUoik' 

 tinged with olive; iris, brown; eyelids, red. Adults in 

 Winter: Back of head, nai)e. and sides of breast, shaded 

 with color of back; a dusky patch behind eye and a 

 small black crescent in front of eye; bill, dusky-olive: 

 otherwise as in summer. \'oung : Eye-crescent and spot 



