988 



SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — LONGIPENNES. 



of related species. Nestlings in down pale gray with a buff tinge, blotched and spotted above 

 with black or blackish, especially on the head. 



L. affl'nis. (Lat. affinis, allied to L. fuscus.) Reinhardt's Gull. Siberian Gull. A 

 slaty-backed bird, resembling L. fuscus, but belonging to the Herring Gull group in the pat- 

 tern of the primaries. Mantle a shade paler than that of L. fuscus; feet yellow ; bill yellow, 

 with a red spot on the gonys. Length 24.00; wing 18.00; tail 7.50; culmeu 2.90; tarsus 

 2.75; middle toe and claw 2.50. Asia; Africa; Europe; only North American as occurring 

 accidentally in Greenland, whence the species was originally described by Reinhardt in 1853, 

 and where it has never been found again. The bird is wide-ranging in Asia, and Siberian ref- 

 erences are correct ; but those which assign it to Alaska belong to L. vegcE. 

 Li. argenta'tus. (Lat. argentahis, silvered, silvery.) European Herring Gull. Pre- 

 cisely like the next to be described, excepting the following particulars : Average smaller 

 size; wing averaging 1.50 shorter; feet about 0.50 shorter on an average; bill shorter and 

 slenderer, particularly at base. The 1st primary has usually a white terminal space 2.00 

 long ; the 2d a large rounded subterminal white spot, occupying both webs. The 1st primary 

 of the American bird has usually a rounded white subterminal spot much like that on 2d pri- 

 mary of the European, almost always separated from the white apical spot, and if a spot is 

 present on 2d primary, it is small. Birds typically like the European occur in eastern North 

 America. 



L. a. smithsonia'nus. (To the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, D. C, so named 

 for its founder, James Smithson, sou of Hugh Percy, Duke of Northumberland. Fig. 

 684.) American Herring Gull. Bill rather less than tarsus, shorter than head ; ro- 

 bust, its height at angle slightly 

 more than at base. Culmen 

 nearly straight at nostrils; then 

 rapidly convex to the stout, de- 

 flected, overhanging apex. Out- 

 line of rami slightly concave ; 

 gonys about straight; eminence 

 at symphysis large and promi- 

 nent, but its apex not very acute. 

 Adult (J 9 ? in breeding plumage: 

 Bill briglit chrome, its tip diapha- 

 nous, a vermilion spot at angle, 

 with sometimes a small black one 

 just anterior to it. Legs and feet 

 2)nle flesh-color ; claws blackish. 

 Mantle typical "gull-blue," much 

 lighter than in occidentalis ; 

 lighter than in hrachyrhynchus ; 

 of much the same shade as in dela- 

 warensis or glaucescens ; darker 

 than in glaucus or leucopterus. 

 Bases of primaries same as back, 

 or very slightly lighter, not so 

 light, nor of so great extent (being exceedingly short on the 1st primary), nor so broad at 

 end, as in californicus. On the 1st primary this light basal portion is very short, hardly 

 reaching within 6 or 7 inches of the tip. It is not lighter at its junction with the black, nor 

 does it extend farther on central portion than on edge of the feather. On the 2d, 3d, and 4th 

 primaries the bluish of the basal portions extends about the same distance on each (within 



Fig. 684. — American Hernnp; iiull, \ oung. (From The Osprey.) 



