560 LARID^l. 



from the countries visited or known to the writer of that 

 notice, and from the circumstance that this species had 

 only been seen in high northern latitudes, I came to the 

 conclusion that the printer had made a mistake of one 

 letter, and that for Ireland we ought to read Iceland. 

 Add to this, that the Bifils of Ireland had been carefully 

 worked out by Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, one of the 

 best authorities for Irish Birds, and this species is not 

 included by him in his Fauna of Ireland. I may also add 

 that Ross's Gull has no place in Mr. Watter's useful 

 Manual of the Birds of Ireland, published in Dublin, in 

 1853. 



Sir John Richardson's description of a specimen killed 

 in June, 1823, is as follows : 



" Colour. Scapulars, inter-scapulars, and both surfaces 

 of the wings clear pearl grey ; outer web of the first 

 quill blackish-brown to its tip, which is grey ; tips of the 

 scapulars and lesser quills whitish. Some small feathers 

 near the eye, and a collar round the middle of the neck, 

 pitch black ; rest of the plumage white ; the neck above, 

 and the whole under plumage, deeply tinged with peach- 

 blossom red in recent specimens ; bill black, its rictus and 

 the edges of the eyelids reddish-orange ; legs and feet 

 vermilion red ; nails blackish. 



" Form. Bill slender, weak, with a scarcely perceptible 

 salient angle beneath ; the upper mandible slightly arched 

 and compressed towards the point ; the commissure 

 slightly curved at the tip ; wings an inch longer than the 

 decided cuneiform tail, of which the central feathers are 

 an inch longer than the lateral ; tarsi rather stout ; the 

 thumb very distinct, armed with a nail as large as that of 

 the outer toe." 



The other specimen, killed by Mr. Sherer a few days 

 later, differs only in the first primary coverts having the 



