The Ivory Gull. II! 



in its derivation to that of ' Biirgermeister ' (mayor), used for the Glaucous Gull. 

 Round these holes in the ice the resting places of the seals are coloured brown 

 with their excrements, which are chiefly devoured by birds, only so much being 

 left as will colour the snow. Martens says that he has seen the Ivory Gull 

 feeding on the excrements of the Walrus." 



"The Ivory Gull," so Professor Newton has recorded in the "Ibis," 1865, 

 p. 507, " is of all others the bird of which any visitor to Spitzbergen will carry 

 away the keenest recollection. One can only wish that a creature so fair to look 

 upon was not so foul a feeder .... I have .... to add that contrary to the 

 experience of almost all other observers, I once saw an Ivory Gull of its own 

 accord deliberately settle on the water and swim. This was in the Stor Fjord. 

 There is a very great variation in the size of different specimens of this bird, 

 which is not at all to be attributed to sex, or, I think, to age ; but I do not for 

 a moment countenance the belief in a second species .... I here transcribe 

 what Professor Malmgren, the fortunate finder of [the first well authenticated 

 specimens of the eggs of this bird brought to Burope] says about them : — ■" On 

 the 7th July, 1861, I found on the north shore of Murchison Bay, lat. 8o° N., 

 a number of Ivory Gulls established on the side of a steep limestone precipice, 

 some hundred feet high, in company with Larus tridactylus and L. glaucus. The 

 last named occupied the higher zones of the precipice. Larus eburneus, on the 

 other hand, occupied the niche and clefts lower down, at a height of from fifty 

 to a hundred feet. I could plainly see that the hen-birds were sitting on their 

 nests ; but these to me were altogether inaccessible. Circumstances did not 

 permit me before the 30th July to make an attempt, with the help of a long 

 rope, and some necessary assistance, to get at the eggs. On the day just named 

 I succeeded, with the assistance of three men, in reaching two of the lowest in 

 situation, which each contained one egg. The nest was artless and without 

 connexion, and consisted of a shallow depression, 8 or 9 inches broad, in loose 

 clay and mould on a sublayer of limestone. Inside, it was carelessly lined with 

 dry plants, grass, moss and the like, and also a few feathers. The eggs were 

 much incubated, and already contained down-clad young .... 



" The locality just mentioned .... lies at the northern entrance of Hinlopen 

 Strait .... I am, however, inclined to think the Ivory Gull breeds periodically 

 in many other parts of Spitzbergen proper .... This species, like other Gulls, 

 probably does not always breed in colonies ; and as it is sure to select the most 

 inaccessible places for the purpose, an occasional nest here and there might 

 well escape notice." 



According to Mr. Trevor- Battye the presence of ice has an attraction for the 



