PLATE LXVIII. 



With respect to the bird now before us, the Ornithological 

 readers will observe that it is not a species absolutely recorded among 

 the indigenae of this country, although there may be some reason to 

 believe in another state of plumage it may have a claim to our con- 

 sideration as a native of northern Britain. We shall at present view 

 it as an arctic acquisition only, and in this respect it is perhaps one 

 of the most interesting among the number of those which occurred 

 to the observation of our late British navigators. It was observed 

 by Captain Ross in various latitudes, from 65 degrees to 76 degrees, 

 north, in his late voyage in search of a north-west passage, and in 

 exploring Baffin's Bay ; and is in particular recorded among the 

 natural productions of those regions in the narrative of his voyage 

 under the name of Larus Glaucus. We may also add that it is the 

 Larus Glaucus of the Linnaean Transactions, in which those northern 

 birds have been again considered, and of various other publications 

 which have treated on the same subject. Larus Glaucus, if it be 

 truly the Burgomaster of Martens, was a well-known species a 

 century and a half ago, but it may be satisfactory to know 

 that the individual example now before us, the subject of our present 

 delineation, is one that had been captured during the voyage of 

 Captain Ross by an officer engaged in that expedition, and we are 

 thus assured of the identity of the bird as one of the recent northern 

 acquisitions. 



Before we enter upon the description of this interesting exam- 

 ple of the Arctic Ornithology, it may not be amiss to observe, that 

 few birds have been productive of more dispute among the later 

 writers than those different species and varieties of the Gulls and 

 other maritime birds which were discovered in the higher northern 



