LARUS BREVIROSTRIS, RED-LEGGED KITTIWAKE. 647 



(?)^(ssrt brachirhyncha, Bkucii, J. f. 0. 1853, 103. 



JUssa hrdchyrhiiiiclia, Bp., Consp. Av. ii, 1850, 226.— Coues, Pr. A. N. S. Phila. 1862, 306. 



Jlissa brevirostris, "Bhandt."— Bkuch, J. f. O. 1855, 285.— Lawr., B. N. A. 1858, 855 



(j>flr<tm).— Dall & Bann., Tr. Chic. Acad, i, 1869, 305. 

 Lams irevirostris, CouE.s, Key, 1872, 315 ; Elliot'.s Prybilov Lslauds (biography, &c.). 

 (?) Larus warneckii, Comde, K. M. Z. 18G0, 401. 



DiAG. L. albus, paUio cinereo, pagonio exieriore et apice remUjis 1'"' nujris, remiffibus 2^°, 

 3*'°, et 4*0 notd apicaJi cinercd, 5*° vittd nigrd et apice cinereo ; rostro brevi, flavissimo, pcdi- 

 bus ritbroflavis. 



Hub. — North Pacific, both Asiatic aud American. 



Sp. ch. Adult, breeding plumage. — (No. 24296, Smithsonian Museum ; from Kamt- 

 schatka; received from Mr. Gould.) Bill very short, stout, wide at the base, the upper 

 mandible much curved, though not attenuated nor very acute. Convexity of culmen 

 very great toward the tip ; the culmen being, from the nostrils to the apex, almost the 

 arc of a circle, whose centre is the symjihyseal eminence. Outline of rami of under 

 mandible and gonys both .somewhat concave ; the eminentia symphysis but slightly 

 developed. Tarsus very short, hardly more than two-thirds the middle toe and claw. 

 Wings exceedingly long, reaching, when folded, far beyond the tail. Tail of moderate 

 length ; even. 



Bin a uuiform clear light straw-yellow, with no tinge of olivaceous "(some speci- 

 mens, however, are thus tinged). Head and neck all round, under parts aud tail, pure 

 white. Mantle deep leaden or bluish-gray, much darker than in IL tridactyla ; the 

 color on the wings extending to within half an inch of the apices of the secondaries, 

 which terminal half inch is white. Primaries : the first has its shaft and outer vane 

 black, but has on its inner vane a space of dull gray {not white), which at the base of 

 the feather occupies nearly all the vane, but gradually grows narrower until it ends by 

 a well-defined rounded termination half as broad as the vane itself, about 2^ inches 

 from the tip of the feather, these 2^ inches being black, like the outer vane. Second : 

 The outer vane is of the same leaden gray as the back, to within 4 inches of the tip; 

 the inner A^ane is of a rather lighter shade of the same color, to within 3 inches of the 

 tip, the gray ending abruptly, being in fact almost truncated. Third : Like the second, 

 but the gray extends further, leaving only a space of 2 inches black ; aud the tip has 

 also a miinite apical gray si)ot. Fourth: Wholly bluish -gray to within l.V inches of the 

 tip, which has a larger gray apical spot than has the third, so that the black is less 

 than H inches long. Fifth : The gray extends so far that it is separated from the well- 

 defineti white apical spot by a band of black less than 1^ inch wide. Sixth : Gray, 

 lading into white at the tip,'aud with the black reduced to a small subapical spot on 

 one or both webs ; other primaries like the sixth, minus the black spot. (This '* gray " 

 of the primaries is the color of the mantle.) Legs aud feet in the dried .specimen clear 

 straw-yellow (in life coral-red, especially the toes aud webs; the tarsi themselves not 

 «iuite so bright). Claws black. 



Dimensions. — Bill, along culmen, 1.20 inches; along rictus, about 1.70; from no.stril 1 1 

 tip, O.GO; depth at base, 0.50 ; width, 0.42; depth at symphyseal eminence, 0.42; wing, 

 13 ; tail, about 5 ; tarsus, 1.25 ; middle toe aud claw, nearly 2 ; length of the whole 

 bird, apparently about 14 inclies. 



In tlie above specimen the feet are plain yellow ; in one more recently obtained (No. 

 54(i'J.">, St. (ieorge's Island, August 15, 1868- J/'. II. Dall) the toes and webs are coral, 

 abnost vermilion red; the tarsi nearly yellow, but apparently already faded .some- 

 what. This bird agrees minut(^ly with (Jould's tyi>ical specinu'n ; tlic bill, however, is 

 a little more attenuated toward the tip, with less convexity of the culmen, and is 

 clouded with olivaceous. It appears to be perfectly nuitun;. I have sinc<^ examined 

 scores of specimens from the Prybilov Islands — they are all alike red-legged. 



I know of no species that resembles this one so intimately that detailed comparison 

 is re(|uire<l for the separation of the ))resent. The si)ecies is in fact one of tiie more 

 strongly marked of tlie subfamily : The shape aud color of the bill ; the relative pro- 

 portions and color of the feet: tile dark mantle and ix'culiar i>ictura of the primaries, 

 stamp it with an individuality not easily overlooked or misunder.stoud. 



Young birds I have not seen; but 1 jiresunu; that the changes of plumage will be 

 found correspondent with tho.se of J{. tridaetgla. The bill may be black, very likely; 

 there nniy be a bar of black on the wings, and another across the back of the neck ; 

 but this, it uui.st Im; cautioned, is merely supposititious on my part. Oi' the color of the 

 feet of tlx'. young I prefer not to conjecture. 



So nuuh has lieen said of the himi toe of I'acilic /i'/nw that it is iucuiiilient ujion mo 

 to add my testimony in respect of this species in this [larticiilar. The hallux of /»*, 

 brcrironlrit is not iippreciably larger than that of Iriitniliila ; it Ix-ars a minute, abortive 

 black claw — a men^ speck of corneous, as di.stingui.shed from cut irular, tissue. I .should, 

 not on this account, say tiiat the hind toe was better developed than in U. tridactyla ; 

 but some authors may have done so, thus furtlier entangling tlie liissa tpiesticm ; for it 



