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THE IVORY GULL. 



Larus ebubneus, Phipps. 



PLATE CCLXXXVII. Adult and Young. 



Having ascertained that this beautiful species visits the southern coast 

 of Labrador and Newfoundland every winter, I have thought it probable 

 that it occasionally extends its rambles as far as our eastern shores, and 

 therefore determined to include it in my Illustrations. The figures in the 

 plate were taken from two specimens procured by Captain James Clark 

 Ross, one of which was an adult male, the other a young bird in its se- 

 cond year. Captain Sabine says that the Ivory Gulls are attracted in 

 considerable numbers by whale blubber, are therefore usually found in 

 company with the Procellaria glacialis, and are easily killed, being by 

 no means shy. Dr Richardson informs us that they were observed 

 breeding in great numbers on the high perforated cliffs which form the 

 extremity of Cape Parry, in latitude 70°. 



Larus ebueneus, Phipps^s Yoyage, p. 187 — Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. {il6 — 



Swains, and Richards. Fauna Bor. Amer. part ii. p. 419. 

 Ivory Gull, Lath. Synops. vol. vi. p. 377. — Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 301. 



Adult Male. Plate CCLXXXVII. Fig. 1. 



Bill shorter than the head, robust, nearly straight, compressed. Up- 

 per mandible with the dorsal line nearly straight at the base, arched 

 and declinate towards the end, the ridge convex, the sides slightly so, 

 the edges sharp, a little inflected, somewhat arched, the tip rather ob- 

 tuse. Nasal groove rather long and narrow ; nostrils in its fore part, 

 lateral, longitudinal, linear, wider anteriorly, pervious. Lower mandible 

 with a prominence at the end of the angle, which is long and narrow, the 

 dorsal line slightly concave and ascending, the sides flattened, the edges 

 sharp and inflected. 



Head rather large. Neck of moderate length, strong. Body rather 

 full. Feet of moderate length, stout ; tibia bare below ; tarsus somewhat 

 compressed, covered before with numerous scutella, on the s'des and be- 

 hind with series of small angular scales ; the hind toe very small and ele- 



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