352 



fleshy and of a brick-red colour ; tip of bill split-pea yellow, merging into French grey on the 

 culmen and base of both mandibles ; legs and feet black. Their note is shrill, and not at all 

 unlike that of Sterna macrura, to which genus their flight has more resemblance than to the 

 true Laridse. I found a pair nesting in a precipitous cliff a little to the south of Cape Hayes, 

 Grinnell Land. The highest range of this bird that I noted was lat. 82° 6', Eobeson Channel. 

 I did not observe it in the circumpolar basin." 



As above stated, the Ivory Gull is found almost exclusively in the vicinity of masses of ice, 

 where it gains a precarious livelihood, feeding chiefly on the droppings of seals, and following 

 the walrus- and seal-hunters to feast on their leavings. Many observers say that it is seldom 

 or never seen swimming on the water, but always on the wing or seated on the ice, whereas 

 others, again, testify that it swims occasionally; and Mr. G. Gillett says (Ibis, 1870, p. 306) that 

 he has " frequently seen it settle on the water." Professor Malmgren writes (Ofv. K. Vet. Ak. 

 Forh. 1863, p. 102) that in Spitsbergen "it is seldom seen elsewhere than near the ice. It does 

 not settle on the water like other Gulls, but is invariably seen on the edge of the ice ; and it takes 

 its prey with its beak from the water when on the wing. This species and the Fulmar appear in 

 numbers when a seal or walrus is being cut up, and are so little shy that if one throws out pieces 

 of fat they will approach quite close. At these places, where the seals &c. are cut up, the 

 Fulmars swim round, whereas the Ivory Gulls are on the wing, or sitting on the ice. Martens 

 remarks also that he did not see them swimming on the water. This Gull feeds on carcasses left 

 by the walrus-hunters or the remnants left over after the Polar bears have eaten ; but its chief 

 food consists of the excrements of the seal and walrus. I often observed on my excursions in 

 places where the Ivory Gulls were numerous (as, for instance, in Murchison's Bay, in 80° N. lat.), 

 that they will sit for hours at the holes in the stationary ice, through which the seals come up to 

 lie on the ice, waiting for the seals' appearance. They look then as if sitting in council round a 

 table; and this practice has doubtless given rise to the curious name used by Martens in 1675 for 

 this Gull, viz. ' Eathsherr ' (councillor), a name analogous in its derivation to that of ' Biirger- 

 meister ' (mayor) used for the Glaucous Gull. Pound 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." 



But very little is known respecting the modification of the present species ; and, so far as I 

 can ascertain, there are only three authentic eggs in collections in Europe — one in the Dublin 

 Museum, obtained by Sir Leopold M'Clintock, and two in the Stockholm Museum, obtained by 

 Professor Malmgren. Professor E. Perceval Wright gives (Ibis, 1866, p. 217) the following 

 extracts from the diary of Sir L. M'Clintock, kept during his adventurous journey in search of 

 Sir John Franklin, in order to show the circumstances under which the egg now in the Dublin 

 Museum was obtained : — " ' From the 12th to the 15th of June we were examining the Polynia 

 Islands, the northmost of which I have called ' Ireland's Eye.' It lies almost under the 78th 

 parallel. None of these islands are more than 60 feet above the sea ; and they are entirely com- 

 posed of gravel. Upon one I saw two bird's nests of former years. They were chiefly made of 

 moss ; and much more of it had been used in their construction than I had seen growing upon 

 the whole group. The broken pieces of egg-shell were of a pale-olive colour, with irregular 



