LARUS EBURNEUS. oom 
{§ 4668. Oxe.—Murchison Bay, Spitsbergen, Lat.80° N., Long. 
18° 30’ E., 30 July, 1861. From Professor Sundevall, 
through Herr Meves, 1867. 
(ifversigt af Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akademiens Forhandlingar, 1833, 
pp. 103, 104. 
This ege was sent to me as one of the two of Larus ebwrneus taken in 
Spitsbergen by Dr. Malmgren. Being with my brother Edward at Stockholm 
in July, 1867, we shewed Prof. Sundevall some Dodos’ bones we had with us, 
for which he was good enough to say he would let us have one of these eges 
in exchange. Herr Meves, however, being away at the time, the egg: 
inaccessible, and it was not until September that I received this one. In the 
meanwhile Prof. Sundevall had written to me, on Herr Meves’s return, that 
rs were 
he regretted to say that both eggs had been dropped on the ground the year 
betore, and were much broken. The specimen sent to me was the least 
injured and presents a fair show face. Unfortunately these egxs do not seem 
to have been ever written upon by Dr. Malmgren, so as to ensure their identity ; 
but Herr Meves I know to have been a most careful man, and he would hardly 
have let specimens, the great value cf which he knew as well as anyone, like 
these to have been mixed with others. 
Dr. Malmeren’s acceunt given, as abeve stated, to the Swedish Academy 
of Sciences is as fullows (cf. Ibis, 1865, p. 507) :—‘ On the 7th of July, 1861, 
I found on the north shore of Murchison Bay, lat. 80° N., a number of Ivory- 
Gulls established on the side of a steep limestone precipice, some hundred 
feet high, in company with Larus tridactylus and L. glaucus. The last-named 
cecupied the higher zones of the precipice. Larus eburneus, on the other hand, 
occupied the niches and clefts lower down, at a height of from fifty to a 
hundred feet. I could plainly see that the hen-birds were sitting on their 
nests ; but these to me were altogether inaccessible. Circumstances did not 
permit me before the 30th of July to make an attempt, with the help of a long 
rope and some necessary assistance, to get at the eggs. On the day just named, 
I succeeded, with the assistance of thiee men, in reaching two of the lowest 
in situation, which each contained one egg. The nest was artless and without 
connexien, and consisted of a shallow depression, 8 er 9 inches broad, in loose 
clay and mould on a sublayer of limestone. Inside it was carelessly lined with 
dry plants, grass, moss, and the like, and also a few feathers. The eggs were 
much incubated, and already contained down-clad young. Both the hen-birds 
were shot upon their nests, and are now in the National Mus2:um. The cocks 
were at first observable, but they vanished when we began the work of 
reaching their nests.” } 
[§ 4669. Zico.—Storo, North-east Land, Spitsbergen, 8 August, 
1887. From Herr Foslie, 1888. 
Sent to me by Herr Foslie, Conservator of the Museum at Tromsé, as being 
from a number (nineteen, it was said) brought to that town by the master of 
