72 GULLS. 



with white ; rest of plumage white ; tail sometimes mottled with dusky. Ad. 

 in winter. — Similar to the above, but with the head and neck streaked with 

 grayish. Im. — Head and nape whitish, streaked with grayish ; back and 

 wings, except primaries, brownish, the feathers margined and irregularly 

 marked with pale bufiy ; primaries dark brownish black, the inner ones with 

 small white tips ; tail mottled with black and white ; under parts whitish, 

 more or less streaked or barred with grayish. L., 29-00 ; W,, 18-50 ; T., 8-00 ; 

 B., 2-50. 



llange. — North Atlantic ; breeds in North America from the Bay of Fundy 

 northward ; migrates southward in winter regularly to the Great Lakes and 

 Virginia, and less frequently to South Carolina. 



Long Island, common W. V., Sept. to Apl. 



Nest., of grasses, seaweed, etc., on the ground. Egvjs., two to three, clay- 

 color, brownish ashy or butfy, rather evenly spotted with chocolate, 3-00 x 2-15. 



A more northern species than the Herring Gull. Mr. Brewster, 

 who observed it in numbers in the island of Anticosti in July, writes : 



" The Blaclv-backs are exceedingly noisy birds, especially when their 

 young are in danger, as well as toward evening. ... I identified four 

 distinct cries : a braying ha-ha-ha, a deep keow, keow, a short barking 

 note, and a long-drawn groan, very loud and decidedly impressive. . . . 

 At all times of the year, during the breeding season as well as in win- 

 ter, it is by far the wariest bird that I have ever met." 



The Siberian CIull (50. Larus affinifi) — a large Gull inhabiting north- 

 ern Asia — is sometimes found in Greenland. 



51a. liarus ar^entatus smithsonianus Coues. American Her- 

 ring Gull. Ad. in summer. — Back and wings deep pearl-gray ; first primary 

 tipped with white, then crossed by a small black mark, then a much larger 

 white one ; this is followed by a black space ; the black runs down the outer 

 web of the feather to near its base and the shaft part of the inner web 

 nearly as far, leaving the inner two thirds of the web below the black mark 

 white (Fig. 60, a) ; the second primary is similar, but the second white mark 

 is a round spot on the inner web and the black occupies a greater space near 

 the tip, but does not continue so far down on the feather ; the third to sixth 

 primaries are tipped with white, which is succeeded by a gradually dimin- 

 ishing black band which extends farther down on the outer web of the feather 

 than on the inner; the rest of the plumage is pure white. Ad. in winter. — 

 Similar to the above, but with the head and neck streaked or spotted with 

 ,! ravish. Im. — Upper parts asliy fuscous ; head and nape more or less streaked 

 ^^ith pale buffy ; back and wings margined or irregularly marked with the 

 iviime color ; primaries brownish black ; tail the same, sometimes tipped or 

 njargined with buffy ; under parts ashy fuscous, sometimes lightly barred or 

 streaked. L., 24-00 ; W., 17-50 ; T., 7-50 ; B., 2-30. 



llange. — "North America generally, breeding on the Atlantic coast from 

 Maine northward" (A. O. U.). In the interior breeds from Minnesota north- 

 ward ; winters from Nova Scotia to Cuba. 



