LARIDyE — LARIN^ : GULLS. 991 



middle toe and claw. Bill stouter, with less convex culinen and better developed angle. Bluish 

 bases of primaries darker, not fading into white at their junction with the black, not running so 

 far along the feathers, nor farther in the centres than along edges of inner webs. Northern 

 Hemisphere, mainly Europe, Asia; California coast in winter; Labrador? 

 L. brachyrhyn'chus. (Gr. ^paxvs, brachiis, short ; pvyxp^, hrugchos, beak.) American 

 Mew Gull. Bill small, somewhat stout for its length, much shorter than head or tarsus. 

 Upper mandible straight to end of nostrils, ratlier more convex to the tip than in canus. Angle 

 of lower mandil>le comparatively less developed than in canus; lower outline considerably con- 

 •cave posterior to it, somewhat so before it. Commissure about straight to near tip. Tarsus 

 about equal to middle toe aud claw, the former but little if any longer than the latter. Adult 

 ^ '^ , in summer: Bill bluish-green, its terminal third briglit yellow. Legs and feet dusky 

 bluish-green; webs yellowish. Mantle light grayish-blue or dark pearl-blue, a shade darker 

 than in canus, much darker than in delawarensis. Primaries : bluish-gray bases rather lighter 

 tlian in canus, much darker than in delawarensis, but fading into nearly pure white on all but 

 tlie first, at juncture with the black portion; these bluish-gray bases extend toward the ends 

 much farther than in canus, as far as in delawarensis, aud, as in that species, on 2d, 3d, and 

 4th extend farther along central portions of inner webs than at edges, so that they are bordered 

 for some distance with the black of the terminal portions. The black takes in outer web of 

 ]st primary and nearly the whole of the inner, but rapidly becomes narrower, till it is merely 

 a subterminal transverse bar on 6th; 7th has frequently a spot of black on one or both webs. 

 First, with a large white spot near end 2.00 long, longer on outer than on inner web, not di- 

 vided by the black shaft, the tip black ; 2d with a similar spot, but smaller, not longer on 

 outer than on inner web, and divided by the black shaft; extreme apex white, as are the apices 

 of all other primaries except 1st. Adult (? 9 ; iu l^'g^i breeding plumage: Eyelid, ocular re- 

 gion, and gape of mouth bright orange-yellow, which color extends over tip and cutting edges 

 of bill ; green of bill with a peculiar hoary glaucescence. Legs and feet bluish-green; webs 

 briglit gamboge-yellow. Sometimes a faint pink blush of the plumage of under parts. Adults 

 in winter : Head and neck all round, with upper part of breast, mottled with dusky. Approach- 

 ing maturity : Head and neck faintly mottled. Primaries brownish-black, without decided 

 white tips; the spots on 1st and 2d restricted. Inner secondaries with a dusky spot on each 

 web near end. Tail with a more or less perfect subterminal band. Young, first winter : Bill 

 tlesh-color; black on terminal half. Legs and feet light yellowish. Head, neck, rump, and 

 wliole under parts, mottled irregularly with dusky. Back as in adult, but feathers with gray- 

 ish edgings. Wing-coverts and inner secondaries dusky, the latter darkest ; all with light 

 edgings. Primaries uniform brownish-black, without white spots, tips, or lighter bases. Tail 

 almost entirely brownish-black, with a narrow border of white. Young in August: Bill and 

 h'irs as in the preceding. Everywhere whitish-gray ; white of under parts appearing as mot- 

 tling, and blue of upper parts as irregular patches. Length 17.50 ; extent 42.00 ; wing 13.75 ; 

 bill above 1.40; gape 2.00; width at nostrils 0.25; height 0.35; height at angle 0.35; tarsus, 

 aud middle toe with claw, 1.80. Arctic and subarctic America in the breeding season, iu 

 winter ranging along the Pacific coast to southern California. It breeds on lowlands of Alaska 

 aud interior British America, laying in June and July 2-3 eggs, 2.30 X l-<">0. Not authenti- 

 cated as occurring on the Atlantic coast. The American representative of L. canus, and the 

 smallest species oi Larus proper in this country. 



(Subgenus Blasipi's.) 



L. (B.) heer'manni. (To Dr. A. L. Heerman. Fig. (585.) WniTE-llEADEn GiLL. IIkfr- 

 mann's Gull. Very ditlcrent from any of the foregoing, belonging to a ditferent section of 

 the genus {Blasipus). Bill slmrtiT than head or tarsus, rather slender, moderately compressed, 



