220 General Notes. LApril 



states that "Mr. G. H. Thayer has noted it as a rare autumn visitant to 

 Dublin Pond." Mr. Thayer (Auk, Vol. XXI, October, 1904, p. 493) 

 gives a record of two seen in Dublin Pond "during a long and heavy north- 

 easterly storm which ended on October 12 or 13, 1903." Mr. Ora W- 

 Knight in his 'Birds of Maine [1908] says, "Occasional specimens are 

 reported about the ponds and lakes in fall, or more rarely in spring." 

 Messrs. Sage, Bishop and Bliss in 'Birds of Connecticut' [1913] state 

 concerning the species, "very rare inland," and then give two autumn 

 records. 



So it would appear that in New England the Red-throated Loon's 

 appearances inland on bodies of fresh water have been rare, and that these 

 appearances have all been in the autumn, with the exception of Mr. Knight's 

 testimony of occurrences in Maine under the expression "more rarely in 

 spring." The Chestnut Hill reservoir occurrence in February, therefore, 

 seems to stand by itself as an incident not duplicated in New England, so 

 far as an examination of records show. — Horace W. Wright, Boston, 

 Mass. 



The Ivory Gull (Pagophila alba) at Portland, Maine. — On January 4, 

 1918, Mr. Walter H. Rich of this city informed me that he had on this 

 day observed an Ivory Gull off Commercial wharf well up Portland Har- 

 bor; the following day, January 5, with Mr. Rich I visited the water 

 front, and we soon had the bird under observation, watching it for an 

 hour. Once it came within twenty yards of the end of the wharf, and 

 lighted on a large ice cake, affording a perfect opportunity for full 

 identification. 



The deeply incised webs of the black feet were distinctly visible and were 

 very noticeable. It was an immature bird and at this close range the brown- 

 ish tips of the feathers of the wings and an imperfect tail band were distinct, 

 though they were not visible when the bird was in the distance where we 

 mostly saw it. The loral region was so thickly spotted that in the distance 

 the gull appeared to be wearing a dark mask, combined with an otherwise 

 snowy white plumage. The snowy whiteness of its plumage, was always 

 noticeably different from any other gull in the harbor, which contained at 

 the time an abundance of Larus argentatus in all plumages, Larus kumleni 

 and Larus leucopterus. Its habits and flight also differed distinctly: 

 it was much more restless, now alighting on the ice, either to remain at 

 rest for a few minutes, or to feed at the water's edge, and then away to 

 search the edge of the ice field or to feed near some of the docks. It seemed 

 to pay little or no attention to the other gulls, or their feeding. On the 

 ice it ran rapidly, suggesting the action of a large plover. Its restlessness 

 and independent action suggested to me the action of Larus atricilla as it 

 appears in the company of Larus argentatus. Its dashing flight seemed 

 more like that of a Jaeger than that of a gull. The wing was used at full 

 extent with very little flexure at humero-radial and carpal joints and was 

 broad and wedge shaped in comparison with the narrower wing of Larus 



