LARID.E — THE GULLS AND TERNS — LARUS. 247 



The stomachs of those Gulls that were killed were not only filled with grasshoppers, 

 but some birds had stuffed themselves so full that these could be seen when the birds 

 opened their mouths. And it was a curious fact that the Gulls captured the grass- ' 

 hoppers in the air, and not by walking over the ground, as they have been said to do. 

 Sailing around in broad circles, as though soaring merely for pleasure, the birds seized 

 the flying grasshoppers as easily, if not as gracefully, as a swallow while in rapid 

 flight secures its prey of smaller insects. 



]\Ir. Henshaw regards this Gull as being common throughout Utah on all the larger 

 bodies of water. It Avas seen in large numbers on Provo River late in ISTovember, 

 when the lake was frozen over, and he had no doubt that it was a winter resident 

 there. 



Dr. Cooper refers to this species as being rare in California, and as visiting the 

 Lower Pacific coast only in winter, and usually in small numbers. He met with a few 

 of these Gulls near San Diego between November and February, but found them 

 common in Puget Sound during the winter. They appeared to subsist almost entirely 

 by fishing ; and for this purpose they follow the rivers far into the interior. At San 

 Diego neither this species nor the californicus was known to feed on dead whales 



— a diet which formed the chief subsistence of the two larger species, and to some 

 extent of the ai'gentatus. Dr. Cooper also met with this species near Lake Tahoe 

 in September. 



It was seen by Captain Stansbury during his expedition to Salt Lake, April 9 ; and 

 he mentions in his Journal that while rounding the northern point of Antelope Island 

 he came upon a rocky islet covered with innumerable flocks of Gulls which had con- 

 gregated there to build their nests. It is also mentioned by Captain Bendire as 

 being a summer resident of Eastern Oregon, and as breeding there abundantly. 



Four eggs in my collection — two from Labrador, and two from Great Slave I^ake 



— present the following measurements : 2.20 by 1.60 inches ; 2.20 by 1.65 ; 2.23 by 

 1.60 ; 2.40 by 1.60. Their ground-color varies from a pale grayish green to a deep 

 drab. These are spotted, in varying proportions, but chiefly about the larger end, 

 with subdued markings of lilac and slate, and larger blotches of a dark clove-brown. 



Larus brachyrhynchus. 



THE SHORT-BILLED GULL. 



Laniscanus, Rich. F. B. A. IL 1831, 420 (= adult; not of Linn. 1758). — Nutt. Man. IL 1834, 



301. 

 Larus brachyrhynchus, Rich. F. B. A. IL 1831, 421 (= young). — Nutt. Man. IL 1834, 301.— 



CouEs, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1862, 302 ; 2d Check List, 1882, no. 780. — Elliot, Illustr. 



Am. B. II. pi. 53.— RiDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 670. 

 Larus canus, var. brachyrhynchus, CouES, Key, 1872, 313; Check List, 1873, no. 549; B. N. W. 



1874, 639. 

 Larus Suckleyi, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 1854, 264 (= young) ; in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 847. — 



Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 665. 

 Rissa sciJtentrionalis, Laavr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 1854, 266 (= adult) ; in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 854. 



— Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 673. 



Hab. The interior of Arctic America, and Pacific coaf?t, south to "Washington Territory. 



Sp. Char. Similar to L. canus, but bill proportionally shorter and deeper, middle toe longer 

 in proportion to the tarsus, and pattern of the primaries quite different. Size small (wing about 

 14.00 inches) ; bill small, the culmen about as long as the middle toe, which is much shorter 

 than the tarsus. Adult, in summer: Mantle light pearl-blue, the shade averaging exactly as in 

 L. canus,^ the secondaries and tertials broadly (the former rather abruptly) tipped with white. 



1 On this point of. Howard Saunders, P. Z. S., 1878, p. 179. 



