IVORY GULL. 451 



species as being common on tlie coast of Greenland, in Davis' 

 Straits, Baffin's Bay, Port Bowen, and Hecla Cove. Dr. 

 Richardson mentions it as observed breeding in great num- 

 bers on the high perforated cliffs which form the extremity of 

 Cape Parry, in latitude 70°. Mr. Audubon, in his North- 

 American Ornithology, says it is found in winter on the 

 southern coast of Labrador and Newfoundland. This Gull 

 feeds on the flesh of whales, and almost any other decom- 

 posing animal matter. The egg is unknown to me. 



The adult bird in summer has the bill greenish-grey at the 

 base and about the nostrils, the anterior portion yellow ; the 

 irides brown, eyelids red at the edge ; the whole of the 

 plumage, including the wing and the tail-feathers, a pure and 

 delicate white ; the legs short and black. 



M. Temminck, in the fourth part of his Manual, says, 

 that, when alive, the whole plumage of this bird exhibits a 

 rosy tint, which passes off soon after death. 



The adult birds in winter are said to have a few greyish 

 streaks or lines about the head. 



Captain Sabine describes a specimen killed during the first 

 week in June, at Greenland, apparently a bird of the pre- 

 ceding year, as having a few light brown feathers about the 

 bill, extending towards the eyes ; a very small transverse 

 band of brown spots across the primary wing-coverts, thickest 

 at the point of the wing ; the primary quill and the tail- 

 feathers slightly tipped with brown. A bird still younger 

 than the last had the ends of the primary quill-feathers, and 

 of the tail-feathers, tipped with brown. 



The whole length from sixteen to eighteen inches, de- 

 pending on age and sex ; from the same cause the wing, from 

 the most anterior joint to the end of the longest quill-feather, 

 varies from twelve and a half to thirteen inches. 



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