Q2 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



8. Larus glaucus Briinn. 

 Glaucous Gull. Burgomaster. 



Rare winter visitor, occurring from November to April. 



Of the five instances, undoubted or probable, that have come to my knowl- 

 edge, of the occurrence of the Glaucous Gull in the Cambridge Region, three 

 relate to birds which have been found in the Back Bay Basin. One of these 

 birds, now in the collection of Messrs. E. A. and O. Bangs, was killed by a 

 gunner on April 4, 1881. Another, taken in December, 1882, was mounted 

 by Mr. Pertia W. Aldrich, a well-known Boston taxidermist of former days, in 

 whose possession I saw it in April, 1883, writing at the time, in my note-book, 

 that it " seems to be a fully adult specimen in winter plumage." It was after- 

 wards purchased by the late Mr. Gordon Plummer and is now in the collection 

 of the Brookline (Massachusetts) High School. The third bird was observed by 

 Mr. Glover M. Allen, who writes me as follows regarding it: " On January 20, 

 1905, I was crossing Harvard Bridge on the front platform of an inward-bound 

 car, when my attention was drawn to a Gull that seemed pure white all over. It 

 was standing on the ice near the edge of an open space at the Boston end of the 

 bridge, about half-way between the bridge and the large culvert where the waters 

 from the Fens empty. The sun was in the east and hence shone full on the 

 bird, so that the conditions were as favorable as possible for observing colors. 

 There was no pearly mantle visible, nor any dark markings on the wings. The 

 bird stood out with a ghostly distinctness against the gray background of the 



ice Two days later, while walking out over the bridge at a little before 



sunset, I again saw what I took to be the same bird, but this time it was farther 

 off, and the light was behind it, as it stood on the ice near the open space. I 

 do not feel that these observations are very conclusive, but in my own mind I 

 have little doubt that the bird seen on January 20 was a Burgomaster." 



Although Mr. Allen's observations are certainly not 'conclusive,' they 

 seem to me worth giving in view of the fact that about si.x weeks later a Gull 

 similar in appearance to the one reported by him, and perhaps the same bird, 

 appeared along the upper tidal reaches of Charles River, where it was noted 

 first on March 4, and very frequently afterwards up to the 17th of the month, 

 by Miss Adelaide StockwcU who is known to me as a careful and discriminating 

 student of birds. She tells me that she saw the white Gull at various places 

 along the river from the bridge near the center of Watertown to the Arsenal a 



