656 BULLETIN 50, UISTITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Blusipus heermanni Lawrence, in Baird, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., ix, 1858, 848; 

 Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H., ii, 1874, 317 (Mazatlan; Isabella Island, in wdnter). — 

 Baird, Cat. N. Am. Birds, 1859, no. 666; Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., xi, 1859, 

 306 (Cape San Lucas). — Cooper and Suckley, Rep. Pacific R. R. Surv., 

 xii, pt. ii, 1860, 275 (Straits of Fuca, Cape Disappointment, and mouth of 

 Columbia River, Washington). — Coues, Ibis, 1864, 388 (Ohiapam, Guate- 

 mala; crit.). — RiDGWAY, Orn. 40th Parallel, 1877, 636 (San Francisco Bay). 



Blasipus heermani Coues, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1862, 304 (monogr.). 



Larus (Blasipus) heermanni Coues, Birds Northwest, 1874, 641. — Coues and 

 Streets, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 7, 1877, 26 (Isla Raza, Gulf of California, 

 breeding; habits). 



[Epitelolarus] heermanni Heine and Reichenow, Nom. Mus. Hein. Orn., 1890, 

 359. 



Larus belcheri (not of Vigors) Baird, in Stansbury's Great Salt Lake, 1852, 335 

 (Pacific coast North America).— Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1859, 237 

 (Vancouver Island). — Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, vi, no. 23 (Lari), 1863, 9, 

 part. — Coues, Check List, 1873, no. 551. 



[Larus] belcheri Coues, Key N. Am. Birds, 1872, 314. 



Blasipus belcheri Blasius, Journ. flir Orn., 1865, 378. 



BLASIPUS FULIGINOSUS (Gould). 



SOOTY GULL. 



Adults in summer (sexes alike). ^Head and upper neck dark sooty 

 gray (deep qiiaker drab), fading toward bill into lighter and more 

 brownish gray, the posterior outUne rather distinct, forming a fairly 

 weU-defined ''hood;" a longitudmal spot of white near each eyelid; 

 lower neck, chest, and upper parts in general plain gray (between 

 neutral gray and deep quaker drab on back, etc.), slightly paler 

 (between light neutral gray and light mouse gray) on median mider 

 parts, the under tail-coverts pale gray to grayish white, the upper 

 tail-coverts light neutral gray; secondaries passmg into very pale 

 gray or grayish white at tips ; six outer primaries dull slate-blackish, 

 the shorter ones with a pale gray terminal spot, the proximal prima- 

 ries gray (like back, etc.), with indistinct termmal margins of paler 

 gray; tail rather light brownish gray, the lateral rectrices paler; bill 

 dark bay (in life), shading into black terminally, the tip of maxiUa 

 burnt sienna;" iris brown; naked orbital ring dark crimson;" legs 

 and feet dark prune purple, the webs bay beneath and under side of 

 toes rufous." 



Immature (^nearly adult). — 'Similar to summer adults, but head and 

 upper neck more brownish, with many feathers of the yoimger 

 plumage intermmgled; mider parts darker and more brownish gray, 

 the under tail-coverts not approaching grayish white; secondaries 

 and proximal primaries much darker, the former approaching black 

 and very distinctly and broadly tipped with gray, the latter with more 

 or less distmct sub terminal spots of blackish; tail much darker gray, 



a Gifford, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ii, 1913, 45. According to Saunders (Cat. Birds 

 Brit. Mus., XXV, 1896, 223) the bill i.s lake red and feet livid black; both appear black, 

 or nearly so, in dried skins. 



