NATATORES — LARIDJS — LARUS. 307 



slightly rounded. Summer, from apparently a young specimen, 24 '0 long. Color: Secon- 

 daries, base of primaries, tertials and back pearl-grey. Upper part of the head and neck 

 faintly tinged with greyish. Chin, ridges of the wings, lower part of the back, rump, tail 

 and all beneath pure white. Bill yellow, with an orange spot on the mental angle : legs 

 yellowish brown. Winter, from a recent specimen, shot on the coast in December : Upper 

 mandible bright yellow at the tip, dark brown at the base including the nostrils ; beneath 

 bright orange on the mental angle. Eyes yellow. Head and neck white, streaked with a 

 few light brownish feathers producing a faint ashen hue. Mantle and wing-coverts pearl-grey: 

 the six first quills marked with black towards their extremities, and tipped with white ; the 

 first broadly marked, and the succeeding gradually less to the sixth, where it becomes a nar- 

 row black band. In addition to this, there is on the first quill a broad white spot on the inner 

 web, and an adjacent long white dash on the outer vane near the tip: the second quill has a 

 round white spot on the inner vane alone. Remaining portion of the quills pearl-grey ; the 

 shafts brown. Legs pale slate. All the remaining part of the body pure white. Length, 

 28 inches. 



Length, 24*0-28-0. \ > 



I have not been able to satisfy myself of the specific identity of these two specimens, and yet 

 they nearly coincide with the descriptions of authors. The detailed account of argentatoides, 

 as given by Richardson, agrees in the main with our bird in its winter plumage, but differs 

 chiefly in the length of the tarsus. The young of the Winter Gull, in winter, are greyish 

 brown mottled with yellowish above, greyish beneath ; quills and tail brownish black, tipped 

 with white. In this state of plumage, they are called the Grey Winter Gull. 



In the Cabinet of the Lyceum, there is a specimen of a large gull which is labelled L. 

 glaucus, but which does not coincide with the descriptions of that species, unless it is sup- 

 posed to be in an immature state. Mr. Audubon regards it as a large variety of the Winter 

 Gull, and considers the true glaucus as not having been ever seen by him on the coast of the 

 United States. The bill (Plate 130, fig. 286) is robust, 2' 1 long measured from above, 0*9 

 deep at the mental angle ; tarsus 2 ' 8, and subequal with the middle toe and its nail ; naked 

 space on the tibia 0"7. Color, universally of a dingy white, streaked and mottled with very 

 light brown ; head and neck finely streaked with brown ; sides of the vent and under tail- 

 coverts barred ; the wing-coverts with zigzag marks ; tail-feathers spotted, margined and 

 tipped with dingy white. Length, 25-0. 



This species breeds from Maine to the arctic circle ; and ranges, during the autumn, winter 

 and spring, along the coast and the great lakes to Mexico. Mr. Audubon describes them as 

 breeding on trees. The eggs are dull yellowish, blotched and spotted with dark umber. 

 Common on both sides of the Atlantic. , 



39* 



