Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/221

 cries, and while the seals hunted the sprat and the capelin towards the surface of the water, these Gulls precipitated themselves down upon the fishes, and snapped them up. In like manner they follow the track of the cod-fish in the sea, to feed upon the booty hunted up by this fish of prey. In the winter of 1821, which I passed on the southern coast, there was not a single Larus leucopterus to be seen. On the 1st of March, the shore was almost free from Sea Gulls; but as I stepped out of my room early on the 2nd of March, the air was almost filled with a species of Larus which had appeared suddenly. As I approached and looked up at them, I soon recognised my Larus leucopterus, which had arrived in great numbers during the night. The Icelanders concluded, from the sudden appearance of these Gulls, that shoals of codfish must have arrived on the coast. They got ready their fishing-boats and nets, and the fish had in truth arrived in such numbers that the fishing for that season commenced immediately. There, where hitherto an ornithological quiet had reigned, everything now became enlivened through the arrival of these birds, which without intermission and with incessant cries hovered over the nets. In this year, 1821, they remained on the southern coast till the middle of May, when they entirely left it, to proceed northward to their breeding-places. This Gull was my weather-guide in winter. If it swam near the shore, and there, as if anxious, moved along with its feathers puffed out, then I knew that on the following day storms and snows were to be expected. In fine weather it soared high in the air. These birds often sit by hundreds on a piece of ice, and in that way are drifted many miles."

Mr. Yarrell describes a specimen egg in the collection of Lady Cust as being two inches and a half long by one inch and three-quarters broad, of a pale greenish white colour, with numerous spots and specks of two shades of brown, with others of a blueish-grey, over the surface generally.

The ICE GULLS (Pagophila) are recognisable by their slender build, proportionately longer wings and tail, smaller feet, and shorter web between the toes.

THE IVORY GULL.

The (Pagophila eburnea) is pure white, at times suffused with a blush of pink. The eye is yellow, and the eye-ring carmine-red; the bill over half its length from the base is blueish, towards its apex reddish yellow, and there is a ring of greenish yellow just in front of the nostrils; the feet are black. In young birds the head and neck are greyish; the feathers of the mantle, the quills of the wings, and the ends of the tail-feathers speckled with black. The length of this bird is twenty inches; breadth, forty-two inches; length of wing, thirteen inches and a half; length of tail, five inches and a half.

The Ivory Gull is an inhabitant of the Arctic Regions, and is only a rare visitor in lower latitudes. It may be regularly met with at Spitzbergen, as also in the Asiatic part of the Arctic Ocean, and in the northern parts of Greenland, but even Iceland seems too far south for its residence. In Greenland it can hardly be called scarce, seeing that during and after the autumnal storms it sometimes makes its appearance in great numbers. Audubon tells us that it visits the southern parts of Labrador and Newfoundland every winter. A few individuals have been seen on different parts of the British coasts. "Although so delicate in appearance," says Scoresby, "this Gull is almost as rare as the Fulmar Petrel, and as little nice in its food; it is, however, more cautious. It is a constant attendant on the flensing operations of the whale-fishers, when it generally seizes its portion while on the wing." Like all other birds inhabiting extreme northern latitudes, it is easily captured indeed, Holboell states that it may be tempted to come within reach of the hand with a bit of bacon tied to a string. Wherever a walrus has been killed these birds are sure to make their appearance, and so devoid of shyness are they, that by throwing them bits of blubber a man may catch as many of them as he chooses.