42 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



" At all times jaegers are given to wandering, and one is likely to 

 find them anywhere along the coast. They are frequently seen harry- 

 ing terns or gulls, to make them disgorge fish just caught. If suc- 

 cessful, they dart down and, rising under the falling morsel, catch it 

 in their capacious mouths. This robbery is often performed by two 

 birds acting in unison, but whether the birds alternate in disposing 

 of the spoil has not been observed. They are very gr'eedy, and often 

 swallow so much that they cannot rise to fly till a portion is dis- 

 gorged." 



Family LARTD^. Gulls and Terns. 



Subfamily LARIN^. Gulls. 



Genus GAVIA Boie. 



GAYIA ALBA (Gunn.). 



14. Ivory Gull. (39) 



Adult mak : — Pure white all over; quills of the primaries, j-ellow; feet and 

 legs, Ijlack ; bill, dull greenish, yellow at the tip. Young: — Plumage clouded 

 with dusky. Primaries and tail feathers, spotted with dusky. Length, 20 

 inches. 



Hab. — Arctic seas, south in winter on the Atlantic coast of North America 

 to Labrador and Newfoundland. Not yet found on the coast of the Pacific. 



Nest, on some inaccessible cliff. It is made of dry grass lined with moss and 

 a few feathers. 



Eggs, yellowish olive, with small blotches of dark brown clouded with 

 lilac. 



Having received interesting accounts from fishermen of pure white 

 gulls following their boats out on the lake, I tried in vain for two 

 seasons to persuade them to take my large single gun, and bring me 

 a specimen. Finally I got them to attach a long line to the stern of 

 one of the boats, with a hook at the end, baited with a ciscoe, and in 

 this way they succeeded in getting me a fine adult male of the Iv^ory 

 Gull, the only one I ever obtained. 



This species of gull is said to breed farther north than any other. 

 On the islands and along the coasts of Spitzbergen it occurs sparingly. 

 In like places on the coast of northern Siberia it is abundant, and in 

 Greenland it is resident. It is seldom found as far south as Ontario, 

 but the movements of all such birds are liable to be affected by wind 

 and weather. 



