LARUS 833 



i-Havmaayc, Dan. ; Sding, Stor-Graamaage, Norweg. ; 

 <''i-ttirut, Swed.; Hamnaa-lokki, Finn.; Tschaika-screbristarya, 

 Russ. 



$ ad. (Orkneys). Head, neck, rump, tail, and entire under parts 

 white ; mantle delicate light French-grey, the larger wing-coverts, 

 secondaries, and scapulars broadly tipped with white ; first primary 

 blackish, towards the tip white with a subapical black band, the next two 

 grey at the base, then black with a large white spot at the tip, the rest 

 grey, subapically black, and tipped with white ; beak pale yellow with a 

 large red spot at the angle of the lower mandible ; legs and feet flesh- 

 colour ; iris yellowish grey, the edge of the eyelids yellow. Culmen 2 '65, 

 wing 167, tail 6'75, tarsus 2'5. In winter similar, but the head and neck 

 are striated with pale brown. 



Hal. Northern Europe to the North Cape, east to the White 

 Sea ; rare in Greenland ; in winter south to the Mediterranean 

 basin, Black and Caspian Seas ; America, from the high north 

 to Maine, passing south in winter to the Bermudas, Cuba, 

 Mexico, and Southern California. 



In the winter season it frequents the coasts, inlets, and 

 estuaries, where it finds small fish, especially herring fry, 

 plentiful, for its food consists of small fish, fish fry, mollusca, 

 crustaceans, clams, mussels, &c. ; the last it takes up in the air 

 to some height and drops on the stones to break the shell, and 

 it also visits ploughed land in search of worms and insects. 

 It is also a great egg robber. It nests on cliffs, small islands, 

 .and in America even on trees, sometimes building a bulky nest 

 of grass straws and dry herbage, at others the nest is a mere 

 depression in the ground with scarcely any lining. In May, 3 

 eggs are deposited, which in ground-colour vary from brownish 



frey to dull olive-brown with violet-grey shell blotches and dark 

 rown surface spots and blotches, in size measuring about 2*8 

 by 1-9. 



1145. SUBSP. LARUS CACHLNNANS. 



Larus cachinnans, Pall. Zoogr. Ross. As. ii. p. 318 ; Saunders, Cat. B. 

 Br. Mus. xxv. p. 266 ; id. Manual, p. 674 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. O. 

 p. 1030 ; L. UucophccuS) Licht. Nomencl. Av. p. 99 (1854) ; Dresser, 

 viii. p. 411, pi. 602, fig. 2 ; L. michahettesii, Bruch, J. f. 0. 1855, 

 p. 282. 



Galliano reale, Ital. ; Chochotunja, Russ. 



ad. (Algiers). Differs from L. argentatus in having the mantle 

 darker, the ring round the eye and gape orange-red, the bill brighter 

 coloured, and the legs and feet gamboge-yellow. Culmen 3-1, wing 18'5, 

 tail 7*7, tarsus 2'85 inch. 



