274 ZOOLOGY. 



the sixth it is reduced to a subterminal bar ; the first quill is black at the end, above which is a broad white band ; the second 

 quill is black to the tip, with a white spot on the inner web an inch and a half from the end ; the other primaries tipped with 

 white; secondaries and tertiaries ending in white; iris yellow; bill crossed near the end with a blackish brown band, between 

 which and the base it is greenish yellow ; the tip is yellow ; tarsi and feet greenish yellow. 



Length, about 20 inches ; wing, 15; tail, 6; bill, If; depth at angle, ; tarsus, 2J. 



Young : On the upper plumage mottled with blackish brown and gray ; beneath grayish white, with light brown spots ; primaries 

 black ; tail white, with a subterminal black band ; bill black, with the base yellow. 



Hub. Arctic America ; Texas to Labrador ; western rivers ; northwest coast. 



The ring-billed gull is not uncommon on Puget Sound, where I obtained several specimens. 

 It has been my rule, as far as possible, in this report, to confine myself, in treating of the 

 various species of birds, to those which have been collected by me, and, after careful comparison 

 with others in the Smithsonian collection, have been found strictly entitled (so far as yet known) 

 to the specific name assigned to them. In the present instance, however, I feel justified in 

 departing from the rule, as, although my own specimens were lost before reaching Washington, 

 I, nevertheless, feel sufficiently certain that they were identical with the old Larus zonorlnjnchus, 

 the present species. This is verified by the presence of a specimen in the Smithsonian 

 collection procured by Dr. Kennedy on Puget Sound, and also by a comparison of the notes 

 taken by me on a couple of skins which agree, with the exception of the toothed bill, with the 

 following description by Mr. Ord of the species which is quoted by Mr. Lawrence in the 

 General Report: ; Length, 19| inches; extent, 46; upper mandible with four indentations or 

 blunt teeth; lower with three; corner of mouth and eyelids, bright vermilion; head, neck, tail, 

 and beneath, pure white; wings, back, and scapulars, blue ash; weight, 19 ounces.&quot; 



My own specimen, (marked 478,) an adult, measured almost the same as the one described 

 by Mr. Ord, being 19 inches in length and 4G.50 in extent. The legs and feet were of a 

 gamboge yellow, with a slight greenish tinge; bill of the same color, with a black zone near 

 the tip; margin of eyelids vermilion] angle of mouth bright reddish orange. Another agreed in 

 every respect except in dimensions, which were larger. 



This species seems to be subject to great changes in color of plumage, feet, and bill, at 

 different ages. Its habits are not different on Puget Sound from those of its brethren on the 

 eastern coast, and have been so well described by Nuttall and others that I can add scarcely 

 anything. Near Fort Steilacoom they are very abundant during the cooler months, at which 

 season they are very common on the marshes and flats at the mouths of the different rivers 

 emptying into the sound. When an individual is wounded, his comrades, like other gulls, hover 

 over and circle around the victim as if impelled by motives of curiosity or compassion. 

 Frequently at this time the others can be readily brought down by the same gunner with his 

 undischarged barrels, but the occasion must be quickly seized because the sympathizing birds, 

 which at first are bewitched, as it were, by the accident to their companion, soon lose the 

 charm, and, becoming more wary, enlarge their circles, and, ascending higher and higher, soon 

 place themselves out of shot range. S. 



LARUS SUCKLEYI, Lawrence. 



Snckley s Gull. 



Larus suckleyi, LAAVR. Ann. Lye. N. H. N. Y. VI, 1858, 204. BAIRD & LAWRENCE, Gen. Rep Birds, 847. 



SP. CH. Adult: Head, neck, under plumage and tail, puro white; back and wings clear pearl blue; ends of the primaries 

 black, occupying about half the length of the first and decreasing to the seventh, on which it consists only of a subterminal 



