BIRDS OF NEW YORK 131 



the first, the first with a white spot near the end, the second with a small 

 white spot on the inner web, the first black for nearly its whole length, 

 the second to the sixth black for a shorter distance, becoming less and less, 

 until the sixth, where it is only a narrow bar; bill greenish yellow with a 

 band of black around it at the angle ; iris pale yellow ; eyelids orange-red ; 

 feet greenish yellow. In winter: Back of head and neck spotted with 

 dusky. First winter plumage: Irregularly mottled with dusky brown 

 and white, the back showing patches of pearl-blue; primaries black; tail 

 mostly white with a broad band of black near the end; bill tipped with 

 black, sometimes with a yellowish spot at the end. Juvenal plumage: 

 Heavily mottled with brownish black, the feathers of the upper parts 

 margined with buffy white ; basal third of bill flesh-color, the rest black. 



Length 18-20 inches; extent 49; wing 13. 5-14. 75; tail 6; bill i. 55-1. 75; 

 gape 2.3 ; depth of bill at angle .5-.65 ; tarsus 1.9-2.45 ; middle toe 1.8. The 

 smaller dimensions refer to the females and 3'oung. 



Distinctive marks. This bird can scarcely be mistaken for any other 

 of our gulls, except the Herring gull, but I am inclined to think this often 

 occurs, as comparatively few reports of this species have been received 

 from amateur observers throughout the State. This bird is 5 inches shorter 

 than the Herring gull. The old birds also may be distinguished by the 

 black ring on the bill, the greenish yellow legs, and the black tip of the first 

 primary; and young birds by the size, and the broad band on the tail. 



Distribution. This is a species of the boreal and arctic zones, breeding 

 mostly in the interior of British America. According to Giraud and Dutcher 

 it is a common winter visitant on the shores of Long Island. Dr Braislin 

 calls it a regular transient visitant, rare in winter and summer. It is given 

 as an occasional winter visitant in the Hudson Highlands, by Meams; at 

 Ossining, by Fisher; and in western New York, by Short. The Auburn 

 List gives it as a rare visitant. It has been recorded from Cayuga, Erie, 

 Essex, Monroe, Niagara, Oneida, Ontario, Orleans, Oswego, Onondaga, 

 Seneca, Schuyler, Tioga, Westchester and Yates counties, but in nearly 

 every instance was called a rare transient visitant. On Canandaigua and 

 Seneca lakes I have found it decidedly less common than the Herring and 

 Bonaparte gulls, but on Lake Ontario and the Erie canal it is sometimes 

 fairly abundant as a spring migrant. The record of its nesting at Axton in 



