( 360 ) 



much darker ; the ends of the primaries and the ends of their shafts 

 black, their tips white, of which color are the eyelids ; feet carmine. 

 Length fourteen inches and a half, wing ten and a quarter. Young 

 with the forehead white ; crown and upper portion of the hind 

 neck, mottled with dusky ; other parts of the neck white, tinged 

 with grayish-blue ; lower parts white ; tail the same color, with a 

 terminal band of black, which disappears after the second moult ; 

 neck and wings grayish-blue, with a few spots of brown on the lat- 

 ter; a spot of dusky on either side of the neck, which is a strong 

 distinguishing character for the young of this species. 



In plumage this species resembles L. atricilla, but differs ma- 

 terially in size as well as in the color of the bill. With us, during 

 some seasons, the young are quite common, though the adult is by 

 no means so. It is a handsome and strongly marked species, and, 

 when flying, utters a peculiar shrill and rather plaintive cry. 



LARUS ZONORHYNCHUS— LINN. 



RING-BILLED GULL. 



Larus canus, Mew or Common Gull, Sw. & Rich. 



Ring-billed Mew Gull, Nuttall. 



Common American Gull, Larus Zonorbynchus, Aud. 



Specific Character — Bill greenish-yellow ; anterior to the nos- 

 trils a broad black band ; from the frontlet feathers to the point one 

 inch and a half; length of tarsi one and three quarters. Adult with 

 the back and upper surface of the wings light grayish-blue, the first 

 six quills black toward their ends ; the first and second almost en- 

 tirely of that color, which is reduced to a narrow bar on the sixth — 

 the first and second having a white spot about an inch and a half 

 long, near their tips ; the terminal portion of all the others, and the 

 ends of the scapulars white, of which color are the tail feathers and 

 the lower parts. Young with the lower parts dull white, mottled 

 with grayish-brown ; upper parts with large blackish-brown spots ; 

 outer primary quills black, the tips slightly margined with white. 

 Length twenty-nine inches, wing fourteen and a quarter. 



This Gull is said to breed in Arctic America, and retires south- 

 ward as the winter sets in, at which season it is common along the 

 whole extent of the coast of the United States. 



