LARID.E — THE GULLS AND TERNS — LARUS. 221 



flesh-color" (KuMLiEN, MS.). Total length (before skinning), 22.00 inches; v/ing, 15.00; tail, 

 6.40 ; cuhoen, 1.60 ; depth of bill through base, .60 ; through angle, .55 ; tarsus, 2.15. 



In his original description of this species, Mr. Brewster gives the following measurements of 

 additional specimens, which we have not had the opportunity of examining : — 



(1) Adult, from Bay of Fundy (obtained about Nov. 1, 1881), mentioned by Mr. Brewster in 

 "BulL Nutt. Orn. Club," April, 1883, p. 125 : "Wing, 16.00 inches ; culnien, 1.88 ; bill from 

 nostril, .88 ; gape, 2.75 ; height at nostril, .66 ; do. at angle, .66 ; tarsus, 2.25 ; middle toe and 

 claw, 2.30 ; tail, 6.50." 



(2) Adult $ , Grand Menan, New Brunswick, Jan. 21, 1883 : " 'Length, 23.75 inches;' wing, 

 17.00 ; culmen, 1.85 ; bill from nostril, .89; gape, 2.75; height at nostril, .65 ; do. at angle, .65 ; 

 tarsus, 2.30 ; middle toe and claw, 2.28 ; tail, 7.22." 



(3) Immature, Bay of Fundy, February, 1883 : " ' Length, 23.50 inches ; extent, 50.00 ; ' wing, 

 15.50 ; culmen, 1.65 ; bill from nostril, .89 ; gape, 2.50 ; height at nostril, .56 ; do. at angle, .60 ; 

 tarsus, 2.10 ; middle toe and claw, 2.15 ; tail, 6.90." 



Another specimen, a female, apparently not (|uite in mature plumage, .shot Jan. 27, 1884, on 

 the Mohawk River, near its junction with the Hudson, and mentioned by Mr. Austin F. Park -in 

 "The Auk" for April, 1884, p. 196, measured as follows : "Length, 23.00 inches; extent, 51.75; 

 wing, 15.75 ; bill, 1.60; from nostril, .80; from gape, 2.60; height at nostril, .60; at angle, .63; 

 tarsus, 2.20; middle toe and claw, 2.25 ; tail, 7.00." Color of irides, one day after death, "pale 

 grayish brown ; of its bill, light watery yellow, with a greenish shade near the base, and a small 

 red spot in a little cloud of dusky on each side of the lower mandible above the angle." Legs and 

 feet flesh-color. 



According to Mr. Brewster (" Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club," October, 1883, p. 218), the characteristics 

 of this species " are pretty uniformly maintained " among the four specimens examined ; " but there 

 is some individual as well as seasonal variation. Thus Mr. Merrill's bird differs from the type in 

 having a more decided approach to a subterminal bar on the second primary, where a transverse 

 spot of gray on the inner web is continued across to the shaft, but fails to connect with a smaller 

 corresponding spot on the edge of the outer web. It also has a dusky spot in front of the eye, and 

 some obscure mottling on the crown and nape — probably seasonal (winter) characteristics. 



" Mr. Smith's specimen is evidently immature. Its entire head and neck, and even the breast, 

 are mottled with dusky, and the bill is greenish at the base. The mantle, however, is perfectly 

 pure, and the wings show no traces of immaturity. The bill is much weaker and more depressed 

 than in the other examples. The pattern of the primaries is essentially the .same, but there is a 

 greater extension of gray, especially on the first two feathers, where it occupies a longer space on 

 the outer webs, and on the second primary forms a complete subterminal bar. 



" In Mr. Welch's example the fifth as well as the second primary has a perfect subterminal bar, 

 and the sixth shows an interrupted one ; while the slate .spreads over the greater part of the webs 

 of the first three feathers, except terminally. This extension of the dark color restricts the white 

 spaces at the ends of the second, third, fourth, and fifth primaries to rounded apical spots which 

 resemble those of glaucescens. There is a further approach to glaucescens in the unusually deep 

 shade of the mantle and the bluish cast of many of the light areas on the primaries ; but the mantle 

 is still much lighter than in any specimen of glaucescens which I have seen." 



Mr. Park's specimen, according to Mr. Brewster (" The Auk," April, 1884, p. 196), is most 

 nearly like Mr. Welch's among those he had previously examined. " The blue of the mantle is 

 similarly deep, and the slate-gray of the primaries perhaps even more extended, the first three 

 feathers having their outer webs almost wholly dark, except terminally, where the white apical 

 spots, although present, are imusually restricted. ... I may add that Mr. Park's specimen has 

 an unusually short stout bill, which is further peculiar in having the superior outline of the 

 maxilla almost perfectly straight from the base to the angle." 



Larus Kumlieni is apparently a distinct species, having its nearest ally in L. argentatus, but 

 related somewhat to L. leucopterus, and perhaps, as Mr. Brewster has suggested, also to L. glau- 

 cescens. From the latter, however, it seems to us to differ rather materially in size, in the form of 

 the bill, and in the pronounced pattern of the quill-markings. The latter character, however, is, 

 according to Mr. Brewster, somewhat variable. 



In case the present bird should prove to be not a distinct species, only two possible explanations 



