NOVA SCOTIAN ZOOLOGY — PIERS. 397 



was killed at the same place on 20th April, 1894. It is a rare 

 bird in Nova Scotia, although, strange to say, Mr. Chamberlain 

 (Catalogue of Canadian Birds) speaks of it as common through- 

 out the Dominion, and breeding from about latitude 45 decrees 

 northward. 



Ivory Gull (Gavia alha). Mr. Egan has two specimens of 

 this gull. The first was taken on 15th October, 1889, in the 

 island of Cape Breton. The second, a male, was obtained at 

 Chezzetcook, to the north-east of Halifax, on 26th October, 1892. 

 This is an Arctic species which in winter comes south as far as 

 Labrador and Newfoundland. Its occurrence in Nova Scotia, 

 therefore, is probably merel}^ accidental. Chamberlain (Cata- 

 logue of Canadian Birds) says that a few examples have 

 straggled to the Bay of Fundy and to Lake Ontario. The 

 species is noted as " rare " in the late Mr. Downs's Catalogue. 

 Mr. J. M. Jones in his paper " On the Larid»e of the Nova 

 Scotian Coast,"* says that only one specimen, as far as he was 

 aware, had been observed on our coast. It had been seen by 

 Capt. Wedderburn, 42nd Royal Highlanders, in Halifax Harbour 

 some years before the time of writing. 



Ring-billed Gull (Lams delaivarensis). In the Ornitho- 

 logist and Oologist for August, 1890, page 122, Mr. F. A. Bates 

 in his " Wanderings, No. 8," says, that while at Three-fathom 

 Harbour, Halifax County, with Mr. Egan, a shot fired at a gull 

 brought it wounded to the flats, where its cries attracted a large 

 flock, two of which were killed. -j- These two, he states, "subse- 

 quently proved to be probably Ring-bills (A. O. U. No. 54) in 

 young plumage." " I am informed by friends in Halifax," he 

 goes on to say, " that this is a somewhat unusual occurrence, 

 and Mr. Downs, the veteran ornithologist of Nova Scotia, never 

 saw it, and does not mention it in his list. This seems rather 

 stranf»-e, as the bird is common on all sides of the Province. Mr. 

 Harry Austen, of Halifax, who possesses one of the birds, writes 

 me that the nearest point at which he knows of the bird is on 

 the Canadian Lakes, and until further noted we must only 



* Traus. N. S. Insf. Nat. Sc, vol. U, pt. iv, 1870. 

 t This was during the latter part of September, 1889. 



