74 . ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



I cannot help thinking that Pallas's Larus niveus really belongs here, 

 having nothing to do with either canus or with californicus. Notwith- 

 standing the fact that the name is preoccupied, the question of theiden- 

 tity af Pallas's bird is of real importance. 



In the first place I concur unconditionally with Mr. Saunders (P. Z. 

 S., 1878, p. 175) in the view that Pallas's niveus is something entirely 

 difit'erent from canus, his remarks so far being quite conclusive. I also 

 feel convinced that Mr. Saunders was right in referring the Japanese 

 specimen to Pallas's bird, but I do not believe that either of them are 

 correctly placed with L. californicus Lawr. 



Both on Bering Island and Kamtschatka I collected a sea gull which 

 corresponds so closely with Pallas's niveus as to leave no doubt in my 

 mind that here at last is the bird to which belongs that most unfortu- 

 nate name. A careful comparison of my specimens with numerous ex- 

 amples of canuSj hrachyrhynclins, californicus and delawarensis proves 

 conclusively that they are more closely related to* the last-named spe- 

 cies than to any of the foregoing ; but although evidently the Asiatic 

 representative of delawarensis it is sufQciently distinct to deserve 

 recognition by name. The future will have to decide, if it should be 

 a trinominal. Let us hope, then, that no intergrad^ion can be proven 

 as Larus delawarensis Jcamtschatchensis would be an awkward appella- 

 tion indeed. 



This Asiatic form is in some lespects intermediate between delatcar- 

 ensis and californicus, thus explaining how Saunders came to identify 

 it with the latter. The color of the mantle is absolutely identical in 

 tint and shade with that of californicus, consequently being considera- 

 bly darker than in delaicarensis, representing in fact a similar difference 

 as that between cachinnans and argentatus. On the other hand, the col- 

 oration of the wing is much more like that of delawarensis than cali- 

 fornicus, the black occupying a much larger area compared with the 

 gray than in the latter. As to size and shape the bill differs in no way 

 from that of delawarensis, but in coloration it disagrees with both the 

 American species, the dusky ring before the tip being rather faintly 

 indicated and fading almost completely out in the dried specimen, while 

 in the two other species mentioned it keeps distinct for years and jears. 



A young bird (No. 92888, Bering Island) in transitional plumage, just 

 assuming the bluish mantle, is in almost every respect an exact couu- 

 teri)art of a young delawarensis from Tehuantepec, Mexico, in the same 

 state of i)lumage. But even in these the difference in shade of the gray 



