228 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



lids bright carmine; Iris silvery; feet yellow; 1 claws black" AUDUBON). Adult, in winter: 

 Similar to the summer plumage, but the head and neck, superiorly and posteriorly, streaked 

 with dusky. Young, first plumage: Above, dark slate-brown, the feathers broadly bor- 

 dered with pale dull buff; remiges uniform brownish dusky, with narrow whitish tips; rec- 

 trices dusky, tipped with white and crossed near the end by a narrow band of grayish or 

 brownish white. Head, neck, and lower parts dirty white, the head and neck, superiorly 

 and posteriorly, streaked, and the lateral lower parts clouded, or irregularly spotted, with 

 grayish brown. Bill dusky, black terminally and brownish at the base; iris dark brown; 

 legs and leet "dusky whitish" (CouES, MS.). Downy young: Prevailing color grayish 

 white, the upper parts marbled or irregularly spotted with dull grayish. Head marked 

 with numer us irregular spots of dull black, somewhat a- follows: forehead with a narrow 

 mesial streak; crown with two spots, one behind the other, with a minute spot on each 

 side, opposite the space between the two larger spots; occiput with four large spots 

 arranged in a transverse series; below these, three others, their position corresponding to 

 the sraces between the spots of the series above; below these three spots a ragged band 

 across each side of the nape, the two separated by a considerable interval; then follow two 

 or three spots across the lower part of the nape, their form and arrangement being rather 

 indefinite. On the lores are three small spots arranged longitudinally; a spot over each 

 eye; there are also several irregular large spots on the lower part of the head, rather less 

 distinctly denned than the others. 2 



Total length, about 30.00 inches; wing, 17.60-19.50 (average, 18.48); culmen, 2.40-2.60 (2.49); 

 depth of bill through angle, .98-1.05 (1.01); tarsus, 2.70-3.10 (2.83); middle toe, 2.10-2.50 (2.34). 

 [Five adults.] 



The great Black-backed Gull, or ''Saddle-back," as it is more 

 commonly called, is nearly if not quite equal to the Burgomaster 

 (L. glaucus) in size and strength. Its habits are not essentially 

 different from those of the other large species of the family. 



Larus argentatus Brunn. 



HERRING GULL. 



Popular synonyms. Sea Gull; Gray Gull (young). 



Larus cinereus BBISS. Orn. vi, 1760, 160, pi. 14. 



Larus argentatus BRUNN. Orn. Bor. 1764, 44. GMEL. S. N. i, pt. ii, 1788. 600, et AUCT. SAUN- 

 DERS, P. Z. S. 1878, 167 (part). COUES, Check List, 1873, No. 547: 2d ed. 882, No. 772. 

 RIDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 666; Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 30. A. O. U. Check List, 

 1886, No. 51. 



Larus argentatus, a. argentatus COUES, B. N. W. 1874, 625. 

 Larus argentatus, a. argentatus B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. ii. 1884, 235. 



0ther authorities give the color of the feet as flesh-color; and it seems that Audubon 

 made a mistake in calling them yellow. Macgillivray describes the fresh colors of the 

 adult male in winter as follows: "The bill is light yellow, the lower mandible with an 

 orange-red patch near the end; the edges of the eyelids orange-red, the iris pale yellow; 

 the feet flesh-colored, the claws dusky." 



"Described from No. 84,765, from Labrador. It may be remarked with regard to the 

 markings of the head, that while in the main those of the two sides correspon in position, 

 some of them are asymmetrical; thus, the left lo e has the three spots near together and 

 roundish in form, the middle one above the others; the other lore has these spots much 

 farther apart, in a line with one another, the middle one much elongated; there is but one 

 spot over the right eye, two over the left 



