Capt. Sabine's Memoir on the Birds of Greenland, ^-c. 545 



inches and a half. Extent sixty-three inches. Weight 41b. 8oz. 

 Length of the tarsus two inches seven-eighths : the females ave- 

 raged rather less. Teniminck (Manuel, p. 49Q, note) appears to 

 have seen an immature specimen of this bird, to which he was 

 disposed to give the name of L. giganteus : this name would not 

 be a correct one, because it is a smaller bird than the L. marinus. 

 Temminck identifies his specimen with the L. Ictycetos of Pallas, 

 but that bird is a black-headed Gull. 



The Larus glaiicus is unquestionably the Burgomaster Gull of 

 the Dutch, and preys on smaller birds as well as on fish. One spe- 

 cimen which was killed disgorged a little Auk when it was struck,, 

 and proved on dissection to have a second in its stomach. 



I am indebted to Mr. James Ross, a midshipman of the Isa- 

 bella, (one of the Discovery ships,) for a singular specimen of a 

 Gull which, though differing in several points, I conceive must be 

 placed under this species : it was shot on the 6th of June near 

 the middle of Davis's Straits. Its description is as follows : 



Length twenty-six inches ; extent fifty-eight inches ; a male 

 bird ; plumage wholly white, the feathers of the hind head, neck, 

 back and wings being occasionally tinged with a very faint brown- 

 ish hue ; the legs and feet flesh-coloured ; length of the tarsus 

 two inches and a half; irides deep brown ; the length of the bill 

 from the corner of the mouth two inches and a half, being full 

 half an inch shorter than in the usual specimens of the Larus 

 glaucus; the bill is a yellowish horn-colour, the ends of both 

 mandibles being a lead-colour. From the colour of the bill and 

 the faint spots on the feathers, this bird was evidently immature; 

 and it may reasonably be presumed that its full plumage would 

 have been entirely white. In this, and in its smaller size, it differs 

 strongly from the Glaucous Gull; both of these circumstances, I 



conjecture, 



