GLAUCOUS GULL OR BURGOMASTER. 59 



The black on the throat is in like manner partially concealed by the 

 white tips and margins of the feathers. Another male, shot on the 

 14th May, is iatermediate in colouring. 



In its colours this species has a considerable resemblance to Syl- 

 via varia, as well as to S. coronata and S. Auduboni, to which latter 

 two species it is more allied in form than to the former, which differs 

 in having the bill much longer and more compressed, the tarsus shorter, 

 and the hind toe much longer. 



GLAUCOUS GULL OR BURGOMASTER. 



Larus glavcus, Brunn. 



PLATE CCCXCVI. Adult Male and Young. 



I FOUND this species on the coast of Labrador in very small num- 

 bers, all paired, in the month of July ; but our endeavours to dis- 

 cover their nests were unavailing, and their shyness, which surpassed 

 even that of the Great Black-backed Gull, prevented us from seeing 

 much of their habits. I have never met with one on any part of our 

 Atlantic coast, and I am much disposed to believe that those which 

 may retire from the Arctic regions, where they are numerous, follow 

 the north-west shores of America, as is indeed the case with many of 

 the hyperborean birds, they giving an unaccountable preference to that 

 side of the continent. It is true that I have often been told at Boston 

 and New York that the Glaucous Gull had not unfrequently been pro- 

 cured there ; but in no instance could I place any reliance upon the 

 report, for when the supposed Glaucous Gull was shown to me, it pro- 

 ved to be merely a large specimen of the Herring Gull, Larus argentatus. 

 Dr Richardson, who had good opportunities of observing this bird, 

 speaks of it as follows : — 



" This large and powerful Gull inhabits Greenland, the Polar Seas, 

 Baffin's Bay, and the adjoining straits and coasts, in considerable num- 

 bers, during the summer. Its winter resorts in America have not 

 been mentioned by authors ; and the Prince of Musignano informs us, 

 that it is exceedingly rare in the United States. It is notoriously 



