232 BIRDS OP ILLINOIS. 



called in and the matter explained . After considerable talk and 

 explanation, and the promise on my part that if they would 

 visit the vessel I would be only too g-lad to recompense them 

 with some powder and shot, I succeeded in obtaining their con- 

 sent to select a specimen. I doubt if to this day they have 

 been able to coTnprehend my reasons for desirino; the specimen. 

 "The birds are fed mostly on fish offal; in fact, nothing comes 

 amiss to them, their ability to swallow being only limited by 

 their size and the extent to which they can expand their jaws. 

 As a consequence, they become very fat and tame, following one 

 about like a dog, and occasionally going to the water and help- 

 ing themselves to what they can find, but invariably returning 

 to their homes. In January and February, when other food 

 is scarce, the gulls are killed and return to the sometimes fam- 

 ished fishermen and their families, in another and more palat- 

 able form, some of that abundance which could not be other- 

 wise utilized during the fishing season." 



Larus delawarensis Ord. 



BmG-BILLEI) GULL. 



Larus delaioarensis Obd, Guthrie's Geog. 2d Am. ed. 1815, 319.— La we. in Baird's B. N. 

 Am. 1858, 816.— Baikd, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859. No. 664.— CouES, Key. 1872. 303; 2J ed. 1884; 

 Check Li-t, 1873. No. 54S; 2d ed. 18S2. No. 778; B. N. W. 1874,636.— Kidgw. Orn. 4flth par. 



1877, 638; Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 669; Man. N. Am. B. 1887. 32 — Saundeks, P. Z. S. 



1878, 176.— B. B. & K. Water B. N. Am. ii, 1884, 24I.-A. O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 54. 

 Larus c(inns Bonap'. Spece. Comp. 1827, 69 Uiec LiNX.). 



yLartis argentatoides "Bbehm." Bonap. Synop. 18iB, 360 {nee Bbehm). 



Larus zonorltynchus Richards. F. B.-A. ii, 1831, 421.— AUD. Orn. Bios. iil. 1835, 98; v, 

 18.19, 638. pi. 212; Synop. 1839. 327; B. Am. vii, 1844, 152, pi. 446. 



Gavma bracliii Bonap. Naum. iv, 1854, 212. 



Larus zonorhv»f!ii(s, var. iiiexicanus Bonap. Consp. ii, 1857. 224. 



Hab. North America at large, breeding ' 'from the northern tier" of the United States 

 northward, and wintering from the United States (at large) to Cuba and Mexico. 



Sp. Chab. Smaller than Z/. califoniicus, the bill more .slender, and without red spot, 

 the mantle much paler, the iris yellow, and feet gj-eonish yellow in the adult. Adult, in 

 summer: Mantle pale pearl-blue (much as in L. argentatus. much paler than in L. hrachu - 

 rhynchus or L. canus), the secondaries and tertials passing terminally into pure white. 

 Outer primary black, with a white .space 1.25 to 1.50 inches long near the end. invohing 

 both webs, the shaft, however, black; second quill similar, but with tbe white space small- 

 er, and the extreme tip also white; third, with the basal half palo pearl-gray, and the apioai 

 white spot larger; ne.\t, similar, but the subierminal black more restricted, the line of de- 

 markation between it and the pale pearl-cray still more sharply defined: fifth, pale pearl- 

 gray, passing terminally into white, but crossed near the end by a wide band of black, 

 about .7.ioI an inch wide: sixth auill pale pearl-gray, passing into white terminally, and 

 marked near tbe end by a more or less imperleot black spot: remaining quills pale pearl- 



