58 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



to which of these the few specimens recorded as killed in 

 Great Britain belong. These gulls are very closely allied, and 

 yet require careful comparison. The one is Pagophila ebumea 

 (Phipps), (Voyage to North Pole, 1773) ; the other Pagophila 

 brachy tarsus (Halboll), (in Brack's Paper, Cab. Journ. fur 

 Ornith., 1855, p. 287). The latter is distinguished by its 

 smaller size, greater comparative length of wing, short tarsi, 

 and darker bill, tipped with bronze. My principal reason for 

 alluding to these is, that a beautiful specimen of the latter form 

 was shot a few years since in Caithness by Mr Shearer, and 

 is now in my possession (vide Proceedings of Royal Physical 

 Society, vol. i. p. 4). At the time I considered it as the old 

 P. ebumea, but I find it now belonging to the long-winged 

 form, and as such the first recorded in this country. 



The thanks of the Society were voted to Sir William Jar- 

 dine for his valuable communication. 



III. Notices of the Hen Pheasant assuming Male Plumage, with an 

 Exhibition of the Diseased Ovaries. (Various Specimens were ex- 

 hibited.) By John Alex. Smith, M.D. 



The bird, with the preparation of its diseased ovaries, which 

 I shall first notice, were brought for exhibition from the 

 Anatomical Museum of the University. It was presented to 

 the Museum by Captain J. W. P. Orde of Kilmory, Argyll- 

 shire, in which neighbourhood it was shot, and displayed the 

 characters of the male, especially in the plumage of the head 

 and neck. The injected preparation of the carefully dissected 

 ovaries showed the atrophied state considered to be the com- 

 mon accompaniment of this assumption of the male plumage, 

 but which is also said to be dependent on age. Mr Small, 

 bird-stuffer, George Street, sent for exhibition another of these 

 well-known varieties. In this instance the male plumage was 

 more brilliant than in the last, and the ovaries which were ex- 

 hibited showed a similar state of atrophy. This bird was the 

 property of W. H. May, Esq., Wellwoodhouse, Muirkirk, 

 Ayrshire. Mr Sanderson, bird-stuffer, George Street, had, 

 at my request, sent another specimen of the hen pheasant 

 assuming male plumage (now exhibited), which, in addition 

 to the plumage, showed also the red warty cheeks of the male, 



