. A popular handbook of the birds of the United States and Canada . larly at Labrador and Newfoundland. Mr. Boardmanreports that two examples have been sent to him from GrandMenan, and in the winter of 1880 I examined a freshly killed Gullthat a boatman told me he had shot the day before off theharbor of St. John. The skin was identified at the SmithsonianInstitution as an immature Ivory Gull. On the English coast thisspecies is more frequently seen, and examples have been taken inFrance and Switzerland; but it is only a straggler outside theArctic Circle. The species is circumpolar in its ran
. A popular handbook of the birds of the United States and Canada . larly at Labrador and Newfoundland. Mr. Boardmanreports that two examples have been sent to him from GrandMenan, and in the winter of 1880 I examined a freshly killed Gullthat a boatman told me he had shot the day before off theharbor of St. John. The skin was identified at the SmithsonianInstitution as an immature Ivory Gull. On the English coast thisspecies is more frequently seen, and examples have been taken inFrance and Switzerland; but it is only a straggler outside theArctic Circle. The species is circumpolar in its range, but breedsin greatest abundance on the islands which lie to the northward ofEurope. The Ivory Gulls appear to spend most of the time amid the pack-ice, often at a long distance from the land. They are ravenousfeeders, and omnivorous in their diet, refusing nothing. Smallrodents and shell-fish are alike fair game to these gluttons, andthey feast with apparent relish on putrid blubber, or even sealsexcrement. The cry is said to be a loud and HERRING GULL. Larus argentatus smithsonianus. Char. Mantle deep pearl gray ; head, tail, and under parts white ;outer wing-feathers mostly black, tipped with white; bill yellow, with abar of red at the angle; legs and feet flesh color. Length about 24inches. In winter the head and neck are streaked with gray. Immature birdsare mottled brownish gray and dull white; wings dusky; tail dusky orgray, with a subterminal bar of dusky ; bill blackish. In younger speci-mens the dark tints prevail, some being almost uniformly dusky do not acquire full plumage for four or five years. Nest. Usually on a cliff, often on a beach or grassy island, some-times in a tree or under shelter of a bush, — generally a slight affair, athin mat of loosely arranged grass or moss; though nests placed intrees are bulky and compact. Eggs. 2-3 (usually 3); pale to dark buff, more or less tinged withgreen, sometimes nearly olive drab ;
Size: 1784px × 1401px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1905
