68 ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



have not been able to find any description of Brandt earlier than Brnch's 

 of 1S53. Bruch's borealis, at least, seems to belong to cachinnans Pall. 

 & Saunders and not to affinisJiemh. (cfr. Seebolim, Ibis 1884, p. 32.) 



Nor is it Larus affinis of Seebobm and Ilarvie Brown (Ibis 187G, p, 

 452), which has "■ yellow legs, and the circle round the eye brilliant ver- 

 njillion, or the color of a Seville orange." Identical with this is evidently 

 Meves' Larns cachinnans (Ofr. Vet. Akad. Forhandl., 1871, p. 786), in 

 which the "legs had a beautiful lemon-yellow color," and the angle of 

 the mouth and the eyelids were "orange-red." 



It is not Larus {Dominicanus) pelagicus Bruch (J. f, Orn., 1853, p. 

 100), which has the back "mostly darker" than marinus, and which is 

 " one-fourth smaller than the latter." 



It is now time to look for what it is. 



In the first place it is v. Schrenck's (and Middendorff's) Lavus argen- 

 tatus var. cachinnans with dark mantle and flesh-colored feet (Reis. 

 Amurl, I, p. 505). It is also, most probably, the fuscescens of the museum 

 in St. Petersburg (fide Meves, t. c, p. 787). I also^feel confident that 

 it is the marinus from the North Pacific, as given from Alaska by Bean 

 & Nelson. In all probability the horcaUs Seebohm (Ibis 1884, p. 32), 

 is the same bird. Captain Blakiston identified that very specimen, as 

 I learn from his manuscrij^t notes, with the so-called marinus from Japan 

 and gives the measurement of the wing as 430""°. Finally I conjecture 

 Taczanowski's pelagicus (Bull. Soc. Zool., France, 1876, p. 263), from 

 the Bay of Abrek, to belong to the present species. 



Unfortunately only a single specimen was prepared, but several oth- 

 ers were shot at Petropaulski in the latter part of May, and their char- 

 acters were noted as agreeing completely with those of the specimen 

 from Bering Island. 



This specimen may be described as follows : 



<? ad. ( U. S. Xat. Mus., No. 92885 ; L. Stejneger, No. '2007. Bering Island, May 5, 1883.) 

 Measurements.— Total length, (iOB™''^ ; tip of clo.sed wings beyond tail, 42™™; middle 

 claw reaches tip of tail, legs stretched backward. Weight, 4 lbs. Wing, 4G7™™ ; tail- 

 feathers, 191'"™; chord of cnlmen, 57™™; bill along gape, 81™™; bill from fore border 

 of nostrils, 26™™; height of bill at fore border of nostrils, 2i;'.™™; tarsus, 71™'"; middle 

 toe with claw, 71'"™. 



Notes on color of unfcafhercd parts (see the colored drawing, pi. vi, tig. 3; 

 which was made immediately after the bird was shot; it was not 

 skinned before the next morning, when the eyelids were found to have 

 chauged into a vivid red flesh color) — Iris clear Naples yellow or rather 

 a yellowish cream color. Bill deep gamboge yellow with whitish tips 



