IYORT GULL. 
83 
—one of them I saw myself. During my absence from home, 
two of them for a few days in succession alighted in my yard; 
my servant thought they were tame birds, and did not 
frighten them. However, one was shot on the third day, and 
when I came home I found it to be an Ivory Gull in rather 
immature plumage: the other bird they said was pure white: 
—though frequently seen since, I was not able to procure 
it. I have the bird that was shot now in my collection.’ 
In Shetland one of these birds was obtained on the 13th. 
of December, 1822, at Balta Sound, by Laurence Edmonston, 
Esq. 
In Orkney one in 1832; a second was shot in the Bay 
of Firth, by Mr. Strang, during the winter of the same year; 
a third subsequently. 
These birds are generally seen out at sea, often in company 
with the Fulmar, except of course during the breeding seasons. 
Some migrate southwards at the advance of winter. 
‘Parties numbering from thirty to fifty associate together 
on the open sea.’ 
Their flight is easy and graceful. 
The Snow Bird, according to Captain, now the Rev. Dr. 
Scoresby, in his account of the Arctic Regions, rarely alights 
on the water, but often sits on the ice, preferring the most 
elevated situations. 
They are ravenous in their habits, and eat all that comes 
in their way in the shape of food; any thing and every thing 
that presents itself in this form is a ‘bonne bouche’ to the 
maw of the Gull. 
The note is harsh and strong. 
This Gull builds on cliffs and rocky shores in the extreme 
north; and the nest is said to be a layer of sea-weed. 
The eggs are reported to be two or three in number; they 
are of a cream-white colour, spotted with grey, reddish brown, 
and brownish black. 
The spotless purity of the plumage of this beautiful bird 
rivals the whiteness of the enduring snows of the northern 
lands to which it belongs, the whole being, however suffused 
with a rosy tinge. 
Male; length, one foot five inches and a half to one foot 
eight inches; bill, pale yellow, at the tip darker, greenish 
grey towards the base; iris, brown, the eyelids red at the edge. 
Head, crown, neck, nape, chin, throat, breast, and back, pure 
white. The wings, which are longer than the tail, reach to 
