The Gulls. 



207 



V 



ground or on a rock, and the 

 eggs are two or three in num- 

 ber, rather smaller than those 

 of the Glaucous Gull, and 

 measuring two inches-and-a- 

 quarter to nearly three inches 

 in length. 



THE 



IVORY GULL. 



(Pngophila cburnca.) 



This is 

 a truly 



The Ivorv Gull. 



Arctic 

 species 

 and is clothed in snowy 

 plumage throughout, in the 

 adult birds, the young ones 

 having some spots of greyish 

 black. It usually occurs in the British Islands in winter only, and thirty specimens 

 have been captured, the greater number of which have been taken in Scotland. The 

 Ivory Gull nests in the Arctic regions of both Hemispheres, and wanders south in 

 winter as tar as New Brunswick in America, and the coasts of Britain and France in 

 Europe. Its flight is described as being more like that of a Tern than a Gull. In 

 Franz Josef Land Mr. F. G. Jackson tells me that he found it breeding in crowds 

 near Cape Mary Harmsworth, the nest being merely a depression in the moss. The 

 eggs are greyish-brown with blackish spots, and do not exceed two in number. 

 Their length is from two-and-one-fifth inches to two-and-two-fifths. 



It is easy to distinguish the Kittiwake from all the other 



T WV 



British Gulls bv the absence of its hind toe. It breeds in "Teat 

 KITTIWAKE. , • " 



numbers 



{Rizsa tyidactyla.) 



on many 



of the headlands of Great 

 Britain : it also nests in 

 the extreme Arctic Regions, 

 and it appears to be dis- 

 tributed over the north of 

 both the Old and the New 

 Worlds. It wanders south 

 in winter as far as the 

 Mediterranean Sea, and 

 down both the Atlantic and 

 Pacific coasts of America. 

 In the cold season it is often 

 found in large numbers off Tin; Kittiwake. 



