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GENUS LARUS — LINN. 



GULLS. 



[Bill straight, hard, compressed, of moderate length, with the point rather 

 sharp ; neck of moderate length, body rather full, wings long and pointed ; tail 

 usually even, of twelve feathers ; feet rather slender ; hind toe small ; mid- 

 dle toes about the same length as the tarsi.] 



LARUS ARGENTATUS— BRUN. 



HERRING OR SILVERY GULL. 



Larus argentatus, Bonap. 



Herring Gull, Larus argentatus, Nuttall. 



Herring Gull, Larus argentatus, Audubon. 



Specific Character — Bill stout, yellow, with a reddish-orange 

 patch toward the end of the lower mandible ; from the frontlet fea- 

 thers to the end two inches and an eighth ; length of tarsi two and 

 a half. Adult with the head, neck all round, lower parts, rump and 

 tail feathers, pure white ; back and wings light grayish-blue ; the 

 outer six quills blackish-brown toward the end, the larger portion of 

 the first being of that color, which is gradually reduced to a small 

 spot on the sixth ; a patch on both webs of the first quill, near the 

 extremity, which, with the tips of all, are white ; on the second 

 quill a much smaller patch of the same color, which is confined to 

 the inner web; other parts of the webs commencing at the base, light 

 bluish-gray, their terminal portion lighter ; upper surface of the 

 shafts blackish-brown, the lower white. Winter dress, the head and 

 neck all round mottled and streaked with grayish-brown. Young 

 in winter, bill brownish-black ; head and lower plumage grayish- 

 brown ; upper parts mottled with dull white and yellowish-brown ; 

 tail coverts barred with dull white and brown ; quills and tail 

 brownish-black, the lateral feathers irregularly barred with white ; 

 tips of the primaries and tail feathers dull white. In this plumage 

 it is the " Gray Winter Gull" of our gunners. Length twenty-five 

 inches, wing eighteen. 



Most of this class of birds, like the Terns, resemble each other in 

 all the different stages of plumage, and alike with them, are sub- 

 jected to great changes, dependent on age and season. Fourteen 



