BIRDS OF INDIANA. 571 



on the back, the under parts a nearly uniform but very faint shade of 

 the same, the quills and tail often imperfectly barred with the same.'' 

 (Wheaton). 



Length, 24.00-26.00; wing, 14.75-16.50; tail, 6.00-6.70; bill, 

 1.60-1.70. 



RANGE. Circumpolar regions. In America, south in winter to 

 Massachusetts and the Great Lakes. 



Nest, similar to that of L. glaucus. Eggs, similar, but smaller, 2.79 

 by 1.85. 



Like the last mentioned species this is but an occasional winter visi- 

 tor to the northern part of the State. Hon. R. Wes. McBride reports it 

 from Dekalb County. It is noted by Nelson (Birds of Northeastern Illi- 

 nois, p. 145) as: "A regular and not uncommon winter resident on 

 Lake Michigan." Dr. A. W. Brayton (Trans. Indiana Hort. Soc., 

 1879, p. 150) also notes it as: "Not uncommon winter resident on 

 Lake Michigan." This gull and the last species leave early and pass 

 northward as rapidly as the waters open. According to Mr. E. W. 

 Nelson (N. H. Coll. in Alaska, 1887, pp. 52 and 54) this is perhaps 

 the most abundant gull along the coasts of Alaska, about the islands 

 of Behring Sea, and along the lower Yukon River. Along the upper 

 Yukon it is replaced by the American Herring Gull. 



11. (5h/.) Larus argentatus smithsonianus CODES, 



American Herring- Gull. 

 Synonym, SEA GULL. 



Adult in Summer. Feet, flesh color; bill, yellow, with a red spot; 

 first primary tipped with white and separated from the larger white 

 spot by a black bar; most of remainder of outer web black, and of 

 inner web white; the second primary tipped similarly, and other pri- 

 maries to and including the sixth, tipped with white; mantle, pale 

 dull blue; the remainder of the plumage white. Adult in Winter. 

 Similar, but head and neck streaked with dusky. Immature. "At 

 first almost entire fuscous or sooty-brown, the feathers of the back, 

 white-tipped or not; size, at the minimum given. As it grows old, it 

 gradually lightens; the head, neck and under parts are usually quite 

 whitish before the markings of the quills are apparent, and before the 

 blue begins to show, as it does, in patches mixed with brown; the 

 black on the tail narrows to a bar, which disappears before the pri- 

 maries gain their perfect pattern. 



Length, 22.50-26.00; wing, 16.25-17.50; bill, 1.95-2.50. 



