232 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



called in and the matter explained. After considerable talk and 

 explanation, and the promise on my part that if they would 

 visit the vessel I would be only too glad to recompense them 

 with some powder and shot, I succeeded in obtaining- their con- 

 sent to select a specimen. I doubt if to this day they have 

 been able to comprehend my reasons for desiring the specimen. 

 "The birds are fed mostly on fish offal; in fact, nothing comes 

 amiss to them, their ability to swallow being only limited by 

 their size and the extent to which they can expand their jaws. 

 As a consequence, they become very fat and tame, following one 

 about like a dog, and occasionally going to the water and help- 

 ing themselves to what they can find, but invariably returning 

 to their homes. In January and February, when other food 

 is scarce, the gulls are killed and return to the sometimes fam- 

 ished fishermen and their families, in another and more palat- 

 able form, some of that abundance which could not be other- 

 wise utilized during the fishing season." 



Larus delawarensis Ord. 



KING-BILLED GULL. 



Larus delawarensis ORD, Quthrie's Geog. 2d Am. ed. 1815, 319. LAWR. in Baird's B. N. 

 Am. 1858, 846. BATED, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 664. COUES, Key, 1872, 303; 2d ed. 1884; 

 Check Li^t. 1873, No. 548; 2d ed. 1882, No. 778; B. N. W. 1874,636. KIDGW. Orn. 40th par. 



1877, 638; Nona. N. Am. B. 1881. No. 669; Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 32 SAUNDERS, P. Z. S. 



1878, 176. B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. ii, 1884, 244. A. O. U. Cheek List, 1886, No. 54. 

 Larus canus BONAP. Specc. Comp. 1827, 69 (nee LINN.). 



?Larus argentatoides "BEEHM," BONAP. Synop. 1828, 360 (nee BREHM). 



Larus zonorhynchu* RICHAKDS. F. B.-A. ii, 1831, 421. AUD. Orn. Biog. iii, 1835, 98; v, 



1839, 638. pi. 212; Synop. 1839, 327; B. Am. vii, 1844, 152, pi. 446. 

 Gavma bracliii BONAP. Naum. iv, 1854, 212. 

 Larus zonorhynchus, var. mexicanus BONAP. Consp. ii, 1857, 224. 



HAB. North America at large, breeding ' 'from the northern tier" of the United States 

 northward, and wintering from the United States (at large) to Cuba and Mexico. 



SP. CHAR. Smaller than Z. californicus, the bill more slender, and without red spoV 

 the mantle much paler, the iris yellow, and feet greenish yellow in the adult. Adult, in 

 summer: Mantle pale pearl-blue (much as in L. argentatus, much paler than in L. brachy - 

 rhynchus or L. canus), the secondaries and tertials passing terminally into pure white. 

 Outer primary black, -ivith a white space 1.25 to 1.50 inches Jong near the end, involving 

 both webs, the shaft, however, black; second quill similar, but with the white space small- 

 er, and the extreme tip also white; third, with the basal half pale pearl-gray, and the apical 

 white spot larger; next, similar, but the subterminal black more restricted, the line of de- 

 markation between it and the pale pearl-gray still more sharply defined; fifth, pale pearl- 

 gray, passing terminally into white, but crossed near the end by a wide band of black, 

 about .75 of an inch wide; sixth quill pale pearl-gray, passing into white terminally, and 

 marked near the end by a more or less imperfect black spot; remaining quills pale pearl- 



