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 ehurnea 
(Phipps), (Voyage to North Pole, 1773) ; the other Pagophila 
hrachy tarsus (Halboll), (in Bruck'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 Boyal Physical 
Society, vol. i. p. 4). At the time I considered it as the old 
P. ehurnea, 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, 
