554 THE SABINE GULL. 



snatched up by a deft turn of the wings and a sudden stroke of the keen 

 bill. Floating refuse is gathered from the surface of the water while the 

 bird is resting. 



It is only in the breeding plumage that this gull wears the slaty plumbeous 

 hood. It seems doubtful if the birds attain the hood until the second or third 

 year, when they are fully adult. But in any plumage there are some dark 

 spots about the head. 



The nest is placed in elevated situations, in bushes, trees, or on high 

 stumps, and is composed of sticks and grasses, with a lining of finer vege- 

 table material. The eggs are three or four in number, and have the grayish- 

 brown to greenish brown color, spotted and blotched with browns, which is 

 characteristic of this group of gulls. 



LYNDS JONES. 



No. 265. 



SABINE GULL. 



A. O. U. No. 62. Xema sabinii (Sab.). 



Synonym. FORK-TAILED GULL. 



Description.- Adult in summer: Head and upper neck all around plum- 

 beous-slate, bordered posteriorly with black ; mantle dark pearl-gray ; primaries 

 black, the inner ones changing to white marked with plumbeous, the first five 

 with white tips and white on the inner webs ; remaining plumage, including 

 slightly forked tail, white ; bill black, tipped with yellow ; legs and feet black ; 

 eyelids orange. Adult in -winter: Similar, but slaty color of head and neck 

 reduced to ear-coverts and nuchal region ; rest of head and neck white. Young : 

 Above, including most of head and mantle, grayish brown, each feather darken- 

 ing distally and tipped with buffy ; tail white with a broad blackish subterminal 

 band ; forehead, lores, upper tail-coverts, and under parts white. Emargination 

 of tail about 1.25; that of young not much less (Coues). Length 13.00-14.00 

 (330.2-355.6); wing 10.50 (266.7); tail 4.75 (120.6); bill i.oo (25.4); tarsus 

 1.25 (31.8). 



Recognition Marks. Little Hawk size. Black of wings and slate of head 

 and neck more extensive than in L. Philadelphia; bill black with yellow tip; tail 

 slightly forked ; the black ring bordering the slate of head and upper neck all 

 around is also distinctive. 



Nesting. Does not breed in Ohio. Nest, on the ground, sand beaches, 

 moss beds, etc. Eggs, 2-5, light or dark olive, obscurely spotted or blotched with 

 brown. Av. size, 1.75 x 1.20 (44.5 x 30.5). 



General Range. Arctic regions ; in North America south in winter to New 

 York, the Great Lakes, and Great Salt Lake; casual in Kansas, Bermuda, and 

 on coast of Peru. 



