452 LAREDO 



from Sutherland, Caithness, Banffshire, Aberdeenshire, Rox- 

 burghshire, and the Firth of Clyde. 



In England it has been obtained in the following coun- 

 ties : Durham, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Sussex, 

 Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset. Like other Northern 

 Gulls it is rarer in the south than in the north. 



To Wales its visits are exceptional. 



From Ireland there are but two well-authenticated 

 records : A bird was taken in Blennerville, co. Kerry, in 

 February, 1846; two were seen but only one obtained. 

 This, an immature specimen, is now in the Chute Hall 

 collection (Thompson, Nat. Hist. Irel., vol. iii, p. 347). A 

 second was obtained near Bantry Bay, co. Cork, on Jan- 

 uary 31st, 1852 ; it is preserved in the Queen's College 

 Museum, Cork. 



Mr. Ussher draws attention to the fact that " in both 

 these instances the Ivory Gull visited the south-west of 

 Ireland. Both the Glaucous and the Iceland Gull have 

 been repeatedly obtained in Kerry and Cork, and so has 

 the Greenland Falcon. The coasts of Western Munster 

 are therefore quite within the occasional winter-range of 

 Arctic stragglers, which probably come down the west 

 coast " ('Birds of Ireland/ p. 348). 



According to Mr. Saunders, about thirty-five specimens 

 have altogether been procured in the British Isles, more 

 than half of which were adults. 



Flight. On the wing the Ivory Gull is brisk, and often 

 moyes with great swiftness ; its flight, as described by 

 Col. Feilden, resembles that of a Tern (Saunders). 



Voice. The note is harsh and shrill. 



Food. Fish are largely eaten, also offal of all kinds. 



Nest. The nest may be built either on the ledge of a 

 cliff or on the ground ; it is composed of marine vegetable- 

 matter of various kinds, including bits of seaweeds. 



The eggs, two in number, are greenish or yellowish-brown 

 in colour, blotched and scrolled with brownish-black. 



Geographical distribution. This Arctic species is com- 

 pletely circumpolar in its breeding-range and plentiful in 

 many parts of the Polar regions of the European and 

 American Continents ; its nesting-haunts have been found 

 extending westward to long. 122 W. (Richardson) , and 

 eastward to long. 130 E. (Nansen Expedition, 1894). On 

 migration in winter it is met with along the coasts of 

 Europe, to the North of France, and down the American 

 sea-board to New Brunswick. 



