730 THE RING-BILLED GULL. 
No. 295. 
RING-BILLED GULL. 
v, 
A. O. U. No. 54. Larus delawarensis Ord. 
Description.—./dult in summer: Mantle deep pearl-gray (typical “Gull- 
blue,” much as in L. argentatus); primaries mostly black, the color decreasing in 
extent inwardly, and disappearing with the sixth quill, owing to encroachment 
of basal white (or pearl-gray); the first quill with subterminal white spot, the 
third to sixth tipped with white (that of the third to fifth often lacking in worn 
plumages) ; remaining plumage white; bill greenish yellow, crossed at angle by 
a broad and clearly defined black band; feet light yellow or greenish; eyelids 
vermilion; iris pale yellow. Adult in winter: Similar, but head and hind-neck 
streaked with dusky gray. Young: Above, brownish dusky or fuscous, edged 
and varied by whitish and grayish buff; outer primaries plain blackish, the 
shorter ones extensively bluish gray, and tipped with white; tail light bluish gray 
more or less mottled with blackish; crossed by a broad subterminal black band 
and tipped with white; below white, the sides spotted with brownish gray; bill 
blackish, paling basally. Length 18.00-20.00 (457.2-508); wing 14.50 (368.3); 
tail 6.00 (152.4); bill 1.60 (40.6); tarsus 2.20 (55.9). 
Recognition Marks.—Crow size, but appearing larger; mantle “‘gull-blue”; 
black band across bill at angle; extensive black (with little show of white 
spotting) of primaries distinctive; feet greenish yellow (thereby easily dis- 
tinguishable from all others, save L. californicus and L. brachyrhynchus). 
Nesting.—Not certainly known to breed in Washington. Nest on the 
ground, of broken down reeds and grasses, or on summit of musk-rat houses, old 
Grebe nests, and the like; Eggs: 2 or 3, colored as in other species. Av. size, 
2.40 x 1.70 (61 x 43). Season: June; one brood. 
General Range.—North America at large, less common on Pacific Coast; 
breeding chiefly in the interior. from northern tier of states northward; south in 
winter to Cuba and Mexico. 
Range in Washington.—Not common spring and fall migrant on Puget 
Sound ; summers casually on the East-side, where it possibly breeds; after L. vege 
easily the least known locally of the genus Larus. 
Authorities.—Baird (Lawrence), Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, p. 847. 
T. C&S. Rh. Kk. E. 
Specimens.—}’roy. 
NO two observers will agree precisely upon the relative abundance of 
birds in a given region; and this diversity of experience, or judgment, or both, 
appears to pertain especially to the gulls. In our experience the Ring-billed 
Gull is not only not “common” on Puget Sound, but its occurrence is irregular 
and worthy of remark. By comparison with other species in winter plumage, 
the Ring-bill presents in its banded beak, its heavily spotted neck, and its 
primaries without conspicuous white, a subtle recrudescence of common juve- 
nile characters, which enable it to elude observation when involved with 
mixed companies of many sorts. 
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