DESCRIPTIVE LIST 27 



SUBFAMILY LARIN/E. GULLS 



The subfamily Larince numbers about fifty species, twenty-two of which inhabit 

 North America. Six of these are known to visit North Carolina. The ocean is so 

 distinctly the home of the family that these birds have long been known as "sea- 

 gulls." They may be distinguished from the terns, which they much resemble, by 

 their even or rounded tails, and also by their manner of feeding; when gathering 

 food from the water, they settle or swoop rather than dart headlong, as do the 

 terns. Gulls feed chiefly upon floating refuse and animal matter cast up by the 

 tides. When weary, they rest upon the waves or gather, often in large flocks, at 

 favorite spots on beaches, bars, or exposed mud-flats. 



Genus Larus (Linn.) 



KEY TO SPECIES 



1. Head entirely white in summer; young more or less dusky on head. Lower parts white. 

 Length 18 inches or more. See 2. 



1. Head black or dusky in adult in summer. Length 17.00 or less. See 5. 



2. Primaries without any black, pearl-gray in color, whitish at tip. Glaucous Gull. 



2. Primaries with white and black, sometimes all black in young. See 3. 



3. Shafts of primaries white throughout. Length about 30.00 Great Black-backed Gull. 



3. Shafts of primaries black. Length 26 inches or less. See 4. 



4. Bill without black band, feet flesh-colored. Length about 25.00. Herring Gull. 



4. Bill yellowish, a black band near the tip in adult. Feet yellowish. Length about 20.00. 



Ring-billed Gull. 



5. Tarsus much longer than middle toe with claw. Length about 15.00. Laughing Gull. 

 5. Tarsus not longer than middle toe with claw. Length about 13.00. Bonaparte's Gull. 



PIG. 6. GLAUCOUS GULL. 



10. Larus hyperboreus (Gunri). GLAUCOUS GULL. 



Ads. in summer. Back and wings pale pearl-gray; primaries lightly tinted with pearl, inner 

 half of their inner webs and tips fading gradually into white; rest of plumage pure white. 

 Ads. in winter. Similar, but with head and neck lightly streaked with grayish. Im. Upper- 

 parts varying from ashy gray to white, feathers widely barred, mottled, or streaked with buffy 

 or ashy gray; primaries varying from pale smoky gray to pure white; tail ashy or brownish 



