546 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



Alaska and Labrador, and probably also in the intervening tracts of 

 North America. 



351. Lesser Black-backed Gull [KLEINE MANTELMOWE]. 

 LARUS FUSCUS, Linn. 



Heligolandish : Liitj Manteldrager = Little Mantle-ivearer. 



Larus fuscus. Naumann, x. 419. 



Lesser Black-backed Gull. Dresser, viii. 42 1 . 

 Mouette a pieds jaunes. Temminck, Manuel, ii. 767, iv. 471. 



All the parts of the body of this small and graceful gull appear 

 light and slender when compared with the solid and robust form of 

 the corresponding parts of the preceding species, of which indeed 

 it almost looks like a youthful representative. The wings, however, 

 are, in the present species, much longer in proportion to the body 

 than in its larger relative, which gives the bird, especially when on 

 the wing, a much more graceful appearance. 



Unfortunately, it is only rarely that a solitary example is seen, 

 and an individual in summer plumage with white head is scarcely 

 shot more than once in ten years. Young autumn birds in very 

 dark-brown spotted plumage, and with a good deal of black at the 

 terminal portion of their tail, occur here rather frequently in the 

 course of September. 



This species breeds in western Europe, on the coasts of Scandi- 

 navia, Great Britain, France, and, Spain ; according to Irby, scattered 

 individuals also nest on the opposite coast of Africa. 



352. Siberian Gull [SIBIRISCHE MOWE]. 



LARUS AFFINIS, Reinhardt. 

 Siberian Herring-Gull. Dresser, viii. 417. 



Up to the present time 1 have only been able to obtain one 

 example of this northern species ; the bird in question was in the 

 stage moulting to the first adult winter plumage, with the back 

 displaying the dark slate-grey markings, while the central feathers 

 of the white tail were still slightly sprinkled with black; in its 

 measurements this example agreed completely with an old bird 

 killed by Finsch on the Obi. Unfortunately two other examples 

 shot here were lost to science ; one, an old bird in pure summer 

 plumage and with yellow feet, having been turned into a lady's 

 muff; and another, a younger bird, having been used for a lady's 

 hat. The example in my collection was shot on the 20th 



