LARID.E — THE GULLS AND TERNS — RISSA. 



201 



Mr. Kuinlieu states that this Gull was very cv^inmon in Kingwah Fiord and its 

 vicinity, just before the closing of the ice, for a few days only ; none were seen in 

 the spring. It is by no means common on the Greenland coast. The stomachs 

 of all the examples whic^h were secured contained small crustaceans ; these Gulls 

 do not, however, restrict i . .aselves to this food, but are very fond of meat, and 

 csjH'cially of the flesh of the seal and whale. 



Dr. Walker mentions meeting with this species ibout Godthaab ; and it is given 

 by Professor Keinhardt as being included among the if^sident species of Greenland. 

 Mr. Proctor informed Professor Alfred Newton (" Ibis,'" 1804) that he had on two 

 occasions received specimens of it from Iceland. It is known to frequent Davis 

 Straits, Uaflin's Bay, and various parts of the northern shores of the continent, where 

 it is a constant attendant upon the whale-tishers, and preys upon the blubber. 



Mr. H. W. Peilden (" Ibis," Oct. 1877) speaks of this Gull as being one of the 

 birds most frequently observed in Smith's Sound, but as not met with beyond lati- 

 tiidc 82° 20'. He found a i)air of them nesting in a lofty and inaccessible cliff near 

 Cape Hayes on the IGth of August, 1875. On the 1st of September a single example 

 Hew around the "Alert" as she lay moored in the ice in Lincoln Bay, latitude 82'' 6'. 

 ( )n the 2d of August, 187G, he observtnl one near Cape Union ; and on the 12th of 

 Adgust they were common in Discovery Bay, and from there southward to the north 

 water of Baffin's Bay. This species is also enumerated by Dr. Bessels among the 

 birds taken in the Polai'is Expedition, under Captain Hall — probably in I'olaris Bay. 



The egg of this Gull obtained by Captain McClintock is rei)resented in a colored 

 plate in the " Proceedings of the Royal Society of Dublin." It is 2.45 inches in 

 length and 1.70 in breadth, of an oblong-oval shape, and slightly more obtuse at 

 (MIC end than at the other. It has a ground color of a light yellowish olive, marked 

 over its entire surface with small blotches of a dark brown, intermingled with others 

 of a lighter and more obscure brown, and with larger cloudings of a faint lilac. 



Genus RISSA, Leach. 



Itissa, Leach, Stephen's Gen. Zool. XIH. 1825, 180 (type, Larusrissa, Brdnn. 

 Linn.). 



; L. tridadylus. 



Cn.vu. Size niediinn ; tail even, or very faintly eniarginate ; liind toe riulinieiitary, or entirely 

 absent, the nail usually obsolete ; tarsus much shorter tlian the middle toe without its claw, not 

 roui,'h or serrate behind. Above, ])earl-blue, beneath, white, tlie yoimg with a black nuchal patch 

 (and in R. tridactyla a black shoulder-patch). 



Only two species of liissa are known, both of which belong to the North American fauna. They 

 niay readily be distinguished by the following characters : — 



1. R. tridactyla. Legs and feet black ; wing, about 12.25 inches ; culmen, 1.40-1.50 ; depth 



of bill at base, .59 ; tarsus, 1.30 ; middle toe with claw, 1.80. Hab. Northern portion of 

 northern hemisphere. 



2. R. brevlroBtris. Legs and feet deep coral- or vermilion-red (drying yellowish) ; wing, 



about 13.(K) inches ; cidmen, 1.20 ; depth of bill through base, .50 ; tarsus, 1.25 ; middle 

 toe with claw, nearly 2.00. Hab. North Pacific, particularly the American side. 



VOL. II. — 26 



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