520 



J. A. ALLEN ON BIRDS 



Ardeid^e. 



86. Ardea herodias Linn. Not very uncommon. 



87. Botaurus lentiyinonus Steph. Common. 



88. Butorides virescens Bon. Common. 



89. Ardeita exilis Gray. Not rare. More common than eastward. 



Rallid.k 



90. Rallus virginianus Linn. Not uncommon in its proper haunts. 



91. Fulica americana Gmel. This and the preceding are well known to breed in the 

 Calumet and Winnebago marshes, as well as Phalaropus Wilsoni. 



Larld^e. 



92. Larus argentatus 1 Briinn. (L. Smithsoniamis Coues. Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sc, 1862, 

 p. 296). Common. 



93. Sterna Wilsom Bon. Common. 



94. Hydrochelidon fissipes Gray. Common. 



1 A careful examination of the question of the specific apical white spot on the inner vane of the second, which is 



identity or diversity of the American and European Herring three fourths of an inch by half an inch in extent, instead of 



Gulls, with access to the numerous specimens contained in the being " entirely absent or a mere speck." 



Museum of Comparative Zoology, and to those of the Museums Reviewing briefly Dr. Coues' four "tangible differences" 



of the Boston Society of Natural History and the Peabody between the American and European birds: — 1st, that of 



Academy of Science, including among them birds from both larger size; 2d, the larger, longer, and more robust bill; 3d, 



countries, for examination and comparison, has not shown the greater length and stoutness of the tarsus, (the 2d and 3d 



apparently the slightest grounds for a separation of the two distinctions being only more amplified expressions of the first) 



as distinct species. After the careful examination of the — we find, he says, after previously admitting that in general 



subject by Dr. Coues, (Revision of the Gulls of North Amer- color and relative proportion of certain parts there is no ap- 



ica ; based upon specimens in the Museum of the Smithsonian preciable difference, that " the preceding differences, though 



Institution. By Elliott Coues. Proc. Phil. Acad, of Nat. marked, I should not consider, in absence of other distinctive 



Sc, June, 1862, p. 291,) with such abundant materials as the features, as of specific value. The following discrepancies," 



Smithsonian Institution affords at his command, I was not he adds, " I find it impossible not to regard as conclusive " 



a little surprised to find the series of adult American they are as follows : — 



Herring Gulls in the Museum of Comparative Zoology pre- "4th. In the European bird, when adult, the first primary 



senting characters quite at variance with bis diagnosis of this has a white terminal space just about two inches long. (This 



species. Subsequently in a more thorough examination of the is precisely as in californicus, the similarity being further 



subject, aided by a series of above thirty specimens, includ- heightened by the fact that in young birds there is a narrow trans 



ing, as above stated, representatives from both continents, I be- verse bar, which gradually resolves itself into two small spots, or 



came fully convinced of their identity. Specimens 6142, 6145, scallops, and finally disappears). The second primary has a 



6146, 6147, and 6148 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, rounded white spot about three fourths of an inch in diameter, 



all but the last (6148) collected in Massachusetts, form a series 

 fully illustrating the change in color from young to adult, and 

 also the incorrectness of Dr. Coues' conclusions. Without de- 

 scribing each in detail, it may be sufficient to say, that of this 

 series No. 6147 most nearly approaches Dr. Coues' type of L. 

 Smithsonianus, but differs from it in the great development of 

 the Bubapical white spot of the second primary of the right wing, 

 which many times exceeds in size the corresponding spot in the 

 left wing. No. 6148 is a specimen in unusually high plumage, 



invading both vanes, but divided into two by the black shaft. 

 In the American bird the first primary has a rounded white 

 spot (of much the same size and character as that on the 

 second primary of the European bird) entirely distinct and 

 separated from the white apex, which is very small. The 

 second primary has no white subterminal spot ; or if one is 

 prt Si "' ( ir/i ich is rarely the case in very old birds), it is exceed- 

 ingly small. 



" Now it may be urged," Dr. Coues continues, " that these 



taken at Beaufort, N. C, March 30, and is also of unusually differences have been noted, but disregarded as of no value, 



large size. This differs from the others, and also from the the nature of the terminal markings on the wings of gulls 



diagnosis of L. "Smithsonianus," in the great extent of the being considered notoriously inconstant. There is in the 



subapical white spot on the first primary, which is one and Smithsonian Collection perhaps the most extensive series of 



three fourths inches long and barely separated by a narrow American Herring Gulls ever brought together. In no single 



black line from the white tip, and by the large size of the sub- specimen of the series have lever observed the slightest approach 



