558 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



form of tail, respectively, peculiar to these genera is nearly or 

 entirely wanting. 



A few examples of this remarkably beautiful gull have found 

 their way into collections ; of these one of the finest, if not in fact the 

 finest, belongs to Heligoland. This bird was an old uninjured male 

 in the purest winter plumage ; it was shot near the island on the 

 5th of February 1858. In the fresh state, the head, neck, and 

 all the lower parts, as well as the tail, were tinged with a beautiful 

 rosy red 1 (rosenroth), this colour being particularly rich on the 

 breast, and also penetrating the soft bluish-grey colour of the 

 feathers of the back, especially on the shoulders, quite similar 

 to what one sees in the same parts in old males of the Northern 

 Bullfinch (Pyrrhula major) from the East. Unfortunately this 

 beautiful colour disappears completely in mounted specimens. 

 This change cannot be due to the action of light ; for I placed 

 some, of the fresh rose-coloured feathers in an envelope which I 

 put inside a book, and found after a year that these feathers, too, had 

 become perfectly pure white. 



In my specimen a few insignificant portions only are dark- 

 coloured ; these consist of a very faint border of the anterior margin 

 of the eye, formed by small black hair-like feathers, and a narrow 

 deep black streak along the outer webs of the first quills, which, how- 

 ever, do not extend to the tips of the feathers exactly as shown 

 in Naumann's representation of Larus melanocephala, pi. 259. 

 The whole outer sides of the wings, as well as the back, are of a 

 very light and pure bluish-grey 2 (bldulichgrau) ; all the remaining 

 parts of the plumage are pure white, deeply and beautifully tinged 

 with rose-colour in fresh examples. The bill is very small and 

 black, the feet vermilion red, with an admixture of carmine colour. 

 In the wedge-shaped tail, the central pair of feathers projects 1*19 in. 

 (30 mm.) beyond the adjacent pair. The bird is of the same size 

 as Larus sabinii, and is therefore intermediate also between 

 L. ridibundus and L. minutus. 



Nothing definite can up to the present time be reported with 

 regard to the breeding range of this species : though investigations 

 have been carried on to beyond 83 N. latitude, no one has as yet 

 succeeded in discovering the nesting stations of this bird. As we 

 have already fully discussed under Tringa islandica, these no 

 doubt exist on a continental or insular area in the Polar basin north 

 of the islands discovered by the Jeannette in June 1881, Mr. New- 

 comb, the zoologist who accompanied the expedition, having suc- 

 ceeded in killing the, up to that time, unprecedented number of 



1 Peach-blossom red Yarrell, British Birds, iii. 582. 



2 French-grey Yarrell, British Birds, iii. 582. 



