BIRDS—LARIDAE—XEMA SABINII. 857 
Sp. Cu.— Color. Scapulars, interscapulars, and both surfaces of the wings, clear pearl gray ; outer web of the first quill 
blackish brown to its tip, which is gray ; tips of the scapulars and lesser quills whitish ; some small feathers near tle eye anda 
collar round the middle of the neck pitch black ; rest of the plumage while. The neck above and the whole under plumage 
deeply tinged with peach-blossom red in recent specimens. Bill black ; its rictus and the edges of the eyelids reddish orange. 
Legs and feet vermilion red ; nails blackish.”’ 
‘* Length, 14 inches ; wing, 103; tail, 53; bill, 3; tarsus, heres Pa: 
Described as above in the Fauna Boreala-Americana. 
Hab.—Arctic seas. 
No specimens are in the collection. 
CREAGRUS, Bonaparte. 
Creagrus, Bon. 1854. 
Cu.—Bill strong and much curved ; tail strong and very deeply forked. 
But one species in this genus, from the coast of California; it is remarkable for its deeply 
forked tail, an unusual form among the gulls. 
CREAGRUS FURCATUS, Neboux. 
The Swallow-tailed Gull. 
Mouette a queue fourchue, Nesoux, Rev. Zool. 1840, 290. 
Larus furcaltus, Nes. Voy. Venus, Zool. pl. x. 
Creagrus furcatus, Brucu, Cab. Jour. 1855, 292 
Sp, Cu.— Adult. Head and nearly all of the neck grayish brown ; two small rounded white spots, embracing symmetrically 
the base of the upper mandible; mantle grayish white; breast, abdomen, and under wing coverts, white; wings extend beyond 
the tail; primaries black on their outer and inner edges; the smaller wing coverts white; the greater slate color bordered with 
white; tail very much forked and white; the two outer tail feathers much longer than is usual in this class of birds; bill very 
much bent, black at the base and white at the extremity ; iris red; eyelids orange ; tarsi aid feet red; claws black. 
* Total length, 60 centimetres. 
Hab.—California 
No specimen in the collection. 
XEMA, Leach. 
Xema, Leacu, Linn. Trans. XII, 1818. 
Cu.—Bill short, rather slender and compressed ; upper mandible straight at the base, curved at the end ; nostrils lateral and 
linear; wings lengthened and pointed ; tail forked ; tarsi rather strong ; toes united by a full web; hind toe short. 
This genus has but one species, which inhabits the Arctic regions, seldom coming far to the 
south. Small in size. 
XEMA SABINII, Sabine. 
The Fork-tailed Gull. 
_ Larus sabinii, J. Sasine, Lin. Trans. XII, 1818, 520; pl. xxix.—Ricu. & Sw. F. B. A. I, 1831, 428 —Norr. Man. 
Il, 1834, 296.—Aup. Birds Am. VII, 1844, 127; pl. cecexli. 
Xema sabinii, Brucu, Cab. Jour. 1855, 292. 
Spe. Cu.—Adult. Head and upper part of neck blackish gray, terminated below by a ring of deep black; the rest of the 
neck, under plumage, the upper tail coverts, and the tail, pure white; the back and upper surface of the wings bluish gray ; the 
edge of the wing from the flexure black; the first five primaries black, with their tips white ; secondaries largely tipped with 
white ; bill black at base for more than half its length, then yellow to the point; interior and angles of the mouth and edges of 
eyelids vermilion; feet black. 
Length, 133 inches; wing, 11; tail, 5; bill, 1; tarsus, 1.4-12. 
Hab.—Nova Seotia, northward; Arctic seas. 
There are no specimens in the collection, 
August 27, 1858. 
108 b 
