660 LARIDvE. 



and the egg, which is of a pale olive-colour blotched with 

 brown, is now in the Museum of Science and Art in Dublin. 

 It is figured with full details by Dr. Carte in the Journal of 

 the Royal Dublin Society (vol. i. p. 57, pi. 1), and measures 

 2-5 by 1'7 in. Major Feilden observed the Ivory Gull 

 frequently in Smith Sound up to lat. 82 20' N., and 

 found a pair nesting in a lofty and inaccessible cliff near 

 Cape Hayes, on the 16th of August, 1875. In Baffin Bay it 

 is plentiful ; and both adult and immature birds are annually 

 obtained in Greenland. In winter it straggles down the 

 Atlantic seaboard as far as Labrador, Newfoundland, and 

 New Brunswick. 



The natural food of this species has already been described 

 by Mr. Eaton ; and in addition to the refuse provided by 

 sealers and whalers, it has been observed to devour the 

 droppings of walruses and seals. Malmgren says that he 

 has often seen numbers of Ivory Gulls sitting for hours 

 round the holes in the ice through which the seals come up, 

 and looking as if sitting in council round a table : a practice 

 which has doubtless given rise to the curious name used by 

 Martens in 1675 for this Gull, viz., ' Eathsherr ' (coun- 

 cillor), a name analogous in its derivation to that of 

 ' Bin-germeister ' (mayor), used for the Glaucous Gull. 

 Major Feilden says that its note is shrill, and not unlike 

 that of the Arctic Tern, and its flight is more like that of a 

 Tern than of an ordinary Gull. 



The adult bird in summer has the bill greenish-grey at 

 the base and about the nostrils, the anterior portion yellow ; 

 the hides dark hair-brown, eyelids brick-red at the edge ; 

 the whole of the plumage, including the wing and the tail- 

 feathers, a pure and delicate white, slightly rosy in life ; the 

 legs black. The whole length is from sixteen to eighteen 

 inches, depending on age and sex ; from the same cause the 

 wing, from the anterior joint to the end of the longest quill- 

 feather, varies from twelve and a half to thirteen inches. 

 Some small, long-winged and short-legged examples, were 

 distinguished by Holbbll by the name of Larus brachytarsus ; 

 but these differences do not seem to be constant. 



