268 LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS — LONGIPENNES. 



iiumaciilate, very pale pearl-gray, fading gradually into wliite terminally ; secondaries and two inner 

 primaries pure white ; next two primaries with pure white inner webs and shafts, the outer webs 

 very pale pearl-gray, the first ([uill having the inner web narrowly margined at end witli black, 

 the next with a somewhat ol)long spot of black near end of each web ; next two quills with inner 

 web bluish white, the outer web pearl-gray, both very broadly tipjjed with black, and the shaft 

 dusky ; next quill similar, but with the central portion grayish dusky, forming a longitudinal 

 lanceolate stripe, divided medially by the shaft ; three outer quills with outer webs wholly black- 

 ish, and the inner web with a broad stripe of the same next the shaft ; alulae, carpal region, and 

 primary coverts plain sooty black, the latter narrowly tipped with pale grayish buff. Lateral and 

 under sides of head and neck white, with rather indistinct transveise bars of dusky, except on 

 chin and throat ; a dusky suffusion immediately before the eye. Lower parts, from jugulum back, 

 including axillars, entirely immaculate pure white ; lining of wing and under surface of primaries 

 light silvery gray. Bill black, brownish basally ; " iris hazel ; legs and feet dull fleshy purple " 

 (Nelson, MS.). Wing, 9.55 inches ; tail, 4.00, the lateral feathers .70 shorter ; culnien, .65 ; 

 tarsus, 1.25 ; middle toe, 1.00. 



Herr J. C. H. Fischer, in " Kroyer's Natural History Journal " for 1864, records 

 the occurrence of this extremely rare Gull in the Faroe Islands. It is there spoken 

 of as the " Cuneate-tailed Gull." The example in this instance had been taken in 

 Suderoe in February, 1863 ; it is now in a private collection in Copenhagen. The 

 " Ibis " (1865, p. 104) makes the statement that only five other examples of this 

 species are known to exist. One of these, obtained June, 1823, on Melville Penin- 

 sula, is in the Edinburgh Museum ; another, from the same place, is now in the Derby 

 Museum of Liverpool ; the third specimen, from Kamtschatka, is in the Museum at 

 Mainz ; the fourth, in a private collection in England, is said to have been killed 

 in Yorkshire ; and the other, killed on the Island of Heligoland, is in the collection 

 of Herr Giitke. 



Kichardson states that two specimens were killed on the coast of Melville Penin- 

 sula, during Sir Edward Parry's second voyage. Ross, in his Zoological Appendix to 

 Parry's narrative of his boat voyage toward the Pole, states that several individuals 

 were seen during the journey over the ice north of Spitzbergen, and that Lieutenant 

 Forster also found it in Waygatsch Straits, which is presumed to be one of its breeding- 

 places. In regard to any of its specific peculiarities of habits, or the places of its 

 retreat in the winter, no information has been obtained. 



Mr. Charlesworth published a paper in the first part of the first volume of the 

 '' Proceedings of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society," giving the particulars of 

 the capture of this example in Yorkshire. It was killed, in 1847, by a Mr. Horner, 

 in February, in a ploughed field near the hamlet of Milford. Its flight is said to 

 have been similar to that of any other Gull, and the bird did not appear at all shy. 



Mr. Macgillivray states, in his edition of 1842, that it has once occurred in Ire- 

 land ; but the statement is unsupported by evidence, and Mr. Yarrell thinks that 

 Ireland is wrongly printed instead of Iceland. It is not accepted as a bird of Ire- 

 land either by Thompson or Walter. 



It has not been met with in Smith's Sound by any of the exploring expeditions. 

 Its entire absence, so far as is known, from Spitzbergen, ISTova Zembla, Franz-Josef 

 Land, and Siberia, and its not having been seen by any of the Franklin search expe- 

 ditions that have entered Lancaster Sound or skirted the northern shores of America 

 from Behring's Straits, and its not having been noticed in Alaska, lias led Captain 

 Fielden to conclude that it must be a bird of limited distribution, ard that it probably 

 has its breeding-haunts north of Hudson's Bay. 



