GULLS AND TERNS: Family Laridae [ 2.99 ] 



Red-legged Kittiwake: 



Rissa brevirostris (Bruch) 



DESCRIPTION. "Legs and feet bright red (becoming yellowish in dried skins). 

 Summer adult: Pure white, the mantle dark bluish gray, or plumbeous; fine inner- 

 most quills plumbeous, the inner webs broadly edged with white, the outer tipped 

 with the same; five outermost quills black toward ends, the third, fourth, and fifth 

 tipped with plumbeous. Winter adult: Similar but hind-neck and auriculars washed 

 with plumbeous. Young: Similar to winter adult, but hind-neck crossed by blackish 

 band, ear-coverts crossed by a smaller black band, and a suffusion of same in front 

 of eye." (Ridgway, 1887.) Si%?-' Length 14.00-15.80, wing 13.00, culmen 1.2.0, 

 tarsus 1.2.5. Eg s -' z to 5* olive white, grayish white, or buffy, blotched and spotted 

 with brown and lavender gray. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Coast and islands of Bering Sea. In Oregon: Rare straggler, 

 known from one record only. 



THE ONLY OREGON record of the Red-legged Kittiwake is of a fresh adult 

 female specimen picked up on the beach at Delake, Lincoln County 

 (January 2.8, 1933), by C. A. Leichhardt and Gabrielson. The bird had 

 been torn open by gulls but was in otherwise perfect condition and is 

 now in Gabrielson's collection. This is a species that remains far to the 

 northward but that like the other northerners that made up the phenom- 

 enal flight of the winter of 1931-33 is capable of moving far to the 

 south on occasion. 



Sabine's Gull: 



Xema sabini (Sabine) 



DESCRIPTION. "Bill gull-like, tail conspicuously forked, the feathers rounded, not 

 narrow and pointed at ends. Adults in summer: head and upper neck dark plumbeous, 

 bordered below by a black collar; mantle slaty gray; tail and middle of wing white; 

 outer quills black, with inner webs and tips white; under parts white; bill black, 

 tipped with yellow. Adults in winter: head and neck white, with dusky on ear 

 coverts and back of head. Young: like winter adults, but mantle brownish, feathers 

 with buffy or grayish edges; tail with a subterminal black band, white tip and base; 

 bill black." (Bailey) Downy young: "The downy young is dark colored, from 

 'ochraceous tawny' to 'tawny olive' on the upper parts and throat, paler on the 

 chin, fading off to 'pale pinkish buff' or paler on the belly. The crown and sides 

 of the head are distinctly spotted or streaked with black and the rest of the upper 

 parts are thickly but indistinctly mottled with 'fuscous black,' the under parts are 

 immaculate." (Bent) Si%e: "Length 13-14, wing 10.10-11.15, bill i.oo, tail 4.50- 

 5.00, fork .60-1.00 deep." (Bailey) Nest: A few blades of grass and stems, arranged 

 about the eggs or in a slight hollow in the ground. Eggs: 2. or 3, brown or olive 

 buff, faintly and irregularly spotted blotches with shades of brown. 

 DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds on Arctic Coasts of both hemispheres. Winters, so 

 far as known, on coast of Peru. In Oregon: Migrates north along coast in May (one 

 record) and south in fall from August to September. 



THE BEAUTIFUL black-headed, fork-tailed Sabine's Gulls (Plate 49, A) are 

 undoubtedly more common on the Oregon coast than our records indi- 



