544 Dwight, Lams fuscus and Larus affinis. [q^ 



and wing coverts are not fuscus (aschengraubraun) [i. e., ashy gray 

 brown] but brownish black (braunlichschwarz)." The question 

 may well be asked what did Linnseus mean by fuscus and what 

 value should be attached to the remark of Meyer and Wolf? While 

 Linnaeus, perhaps, has used fuscus rather loosely in his descriptions, 

 he surely would not have applied it to the light slaty backed form; 

 and Meyer and Wolf evidently did not have the courage of their 

 convictions, for they described and figured fuscus. Meisner and 

 Schinz (Vog. Schweiz, 1S15, p. 276) make use of Larus flavipcs 

 and so does Meyer (Kurze Beschs. Vog. Liv. u Esthl. 1815, p. 231), 

 Vieillot (Encyc. Method. I, 1S23, p. 346; Faune franc.. Ois., 1828?, 

 p. 394), Lesson (Traite, 1831, p. 617), and Temminck (Man. Orn. 

 2d ed., 4th pte., 1840, p. 471), but all of these writers seem to refer 

 without question to fuscus. As for Larus dnereus (Leach, Syst. 

 Cat. Mam., etc., 1816, p. 40), it would be a difficult matter 

 to allocate this name. As early as 1822 Brehm and Schilling 

 (Beitr. zur Vogelkunde, III, pp. 735 +) gave elaborate descrip- 

 tions of the plumages of the Gulls, but apparently confused the 

 black-backed species under "ma.vimus" and " marinus." Later 

 Brehm (Isis, XXIII, 1830, p. 993, and Handl. Naturg. Vogel. 

 Deutschl., pp. 746-750) recognized three species of the "Laroida? 

 harengorum (Larus fuscus)," viz., melanotos, harengorum, and 

 fuscus, saying that they all have a very dark mantle, and using the 

 term slate-back ("schieferschwarz") to describe it, so here again 

 it is evident that these names are pure synonyms of fuscus. 



Next in point of time is Macgillivray (Man. Brit. Orn., 1842, 

 pt. II, p. 245), who, in describing "Larus flavipcs, Yellow-footed 

 Gull," says in part, " the back and wings blackish-gray tinged with 

 purple or dark slate coloured." This description of the British 

 bird applies to the form that Lowe called brittanicus, which has 

 proved to be Reinhardt's affinis, and it would be most appropriate 

 to use "Yellow-footed Gull" for the popular name. 



Summing up, then, the first available scientific name for the 

 grayer-backed bird is affinis of Reinhardt, and as there is complete 

 intergradation of every character between affinis and fuscus there 

 can be no question of two species. 



The skins I have examined show a little difference in the size of 

 birds of the two races, although the difference in color of the mantles 



