56 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



14 LARUS GLAUCUS (Brunn). 42 



Glaucous Gull. 



Adult: — Plumage pure white except the mantle which is grayish-blue, 

 Bill gamboge yellow with a carmine patch toward the end of the lower man- 

 dible ; feet flesh colour. In the young the upper-parts are yellowish-white, 

 mottled with pale brown; breast and lower-parts grey; tail white mottled with 

 brown, length 27 inches. 



Hab. Arctic Regions, south in winter in North America to the Great 

 Lakes and Long Island. North Pacific. 



Duringthe winter months the "Burgomaster," asthis species 

 is usually named, may be seen roaming around the shores of 

 Lake Ontario, seeking what it may devour, and is not very 

 scrupulous either as regards quantity or quality. In the Fauna 

 Bereali- Americana, it is described as being "notoriously greedy 

 and voracious, preying not only on fish and birds but on carrion 

 of every kind; one which was killed in Capt. Ross's expedition, 

 disgorged an auk when it was struck, and on dissection was 

 found to have another in its stomach." 



In March when the days begin to lengthen and the ice be- 

 gins to soften these large gulls rise fiom Lake Ontario, and 

 soaring around in wide circles at a great height pass away toward 

 the north. 



In the spring of 1884 a specimen was shot near Toronto, by 

 Mr. George Guest of that city. 



Genus LARUS Linn^us. 



15 LARUS MARINUS (Linn). 4*7 



Great Black-backed Gull. 



Feet flesh-colored ; bill yellow with red spot. Mantle blackish slate- 

 co lor ; first primary with the end white for 2-3 inches ; second primary with 

 a white sub-apical spot, and like the remaining ones that are crossed with 

 black, having the tip white (when not quite mature, the first, with small 

 white tip and sub-apical spot, the second with white tip alone). In winter, 

 head and neck streaked with dusky. Young : — Whitish, variously washed, 

 mottled and patched with brown or dusky ; quills and tail black, with or 

 without white tips ; bill black. Very large ; length 30 inches ; wing, iSJ ; 

 bill above 2^. 



