LARUS ROSEUS, Macgillivray. 

 Rosy Gull. 



PLATE XIV. 



L. dorso remigibusque pallid^ griseis ; capite, pectore abdomineque pallide roseis ; collo 

 torquo nigro circumdato, duobis rectricibus mediis caudse longioribus. 



Larus roseus, Macgillivray, Wern. Soc. Trans, vol. v. p. 249- (note.) 



X his interesting species is one of the acquisitions gained to ornithology by 

 the enterprizing expeditions of Captain Parry. A single specimen was pro- 

 cured during his second voyage, which is now in the Royal Museum of the 



University of Edinburgh. A ticket was attached to it, marked " Larus 



male, 27th June 1823, Igloolik ;" and, as far as we can learn, it was the only 

 specimen procured or seen during that perilous voyage. It resembles its 

 congeners in the general form and distribution of colours ; but differs from 

 them in the formation of the tail, which has the two centre feathers consider- 

 ably lengthened, as in the genus Lestris, and forms a striking contrast, when 

 compared with that of the Larus Sabini, where it is forked, and the exterior 

 feathers very much elongated. It might with as much propriety constitute 

 the type of a distinct genus. It appears furnished with very considerable 

 powers of flight : the wings are in proportion long, and the shafts of the fea- 

 thers are broad and strong. It is extremely probable that its occurrence in 

 these northern latitudes is accidental ; at all events it must be a species of 

 great rarity. 



The following description was taken chiefly from the manuscript notes of 

 Mr Macgillivray, its first describer, which were written soon after the ar- 

 rival of the specimen in this country, and since which period the colours of 

 the plumage have considerably faded. 



The bill is six-eighths of an inch long, black, and with very little angle ; 

 the edges and inside of the mouth are orange. The edges of the eye-lids 



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