Franklin's Gull 19 



faint rosy tinge on the breast fading after death ; three outer primaries 

 black, the fourth and fifth black toward the end, all but the first 

 usually with a small apical spot ; iris blackish, eyelids and bill 

 carmine, feet dusky red. Length 16-50 ; wing 13-0 ; tail 5*0 ; tarsus 2-0 ; 

 culmen 1'75. 



In winter there is no hood, and the head is white with a little blackish, 

 and the breast has no rosy tinge ; bill and feet dusky. Young birds 

 are mottled with greyish and brown above, the tail has a broad sub- 

 terminal band of blackish -brown, and the quills are the same colour ; 

 upper tail -coverts white. 



Distribution. — Breeding chiefly on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts 

 from Maine to Texas, and on the Pacific coast of Mexico ; in winter 

 to the West Indies and northern South America as far as the Amazona 

 and Peru ; rare inland. 



This Gull has been reported from Fort Lyon by Captain Thorns 

 (Morrison), while H. G. Smith identified an example killed at Sloans 

 Lake, in the western suburbs of Denver, in December, 1889. These 

 are the only recorded occurrences in Colorado. 



Franklin's Gull. Larus franklini. 



A.O.U. CheckUst no 59 — Colorado Records — Cooke 97, pp. 19, 51 ; 

 Felger 09, p. 278 ; Hersey & Rockwell 09, p. 110. 



Description. — Adult — Head all round slaty-black with a white, ring 

 round and chiefly behind the eye; mantle slaty -grey, nearly greyish- 

 blue ; rest of the plumage, except the quills, white tinged with rosy- 

 pink on the breast ; first primary chiefly white on the inner and 

 tip of the outer web, dusky slate on the outer web, and with a rounded 

 black spot on the inner web about 1 -25 inches from the tip ; the next 

 four slaty, paling to white at the tiji and crossed by a subterminal 

 band of black ; eyeUds orange, bill red with a darker subterminal 

 band; legs dusky red. Length 13-5; wing 11-25; tail 4-0; culmen 

 1-25 ; tarsus 1-70. 



In winter the hood is absent, the head is white with a few dusky 

 feathers and the breast has no rosy tinge. Young birds have the 

 top and sides of the head and back greyish -brown, the quills dusky 

 tipped with white, and the tail with a subterminal band of dusky ; 

 forehead, eye-spot and under-parts white. 



Distribution. — Breeding in the interior of North America from Iowa 

 northwards to Manitoba and the interior of the Dominion ; south on 

 migration from the Mississippi Valley to Utah, wintering in Mexico 

 and Central America and as far south as Peru. 



Though quite a common bird on migration, both in Kansas and 

 Utah, Franklin's Gull is hardly known from Colorado. In fact the 



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