LARID.E — THE GULLS AND TERNS — LAllUS. 



241 



Romaindi'v of tlie pliiiimge pure white. Rill deep chrome-yellow, the iimiulible reil suljleruiiiiiilly, 

 iiwir the angle; eyelids oraiij,'e-red (Sacndkus) ; le^'s iiiid feet yellow (Saundeuh) ; iiis pale 

 yellow. Adult, in vnntcr: Similar, hut head and neck, above and posteriorly, streaked with 

 brownish gray.^ Yminij; "The younj,' have always flesh-colored legs, and cannot possibly, I 

 believe, be distinguished from the young of />. ar(jenhthtn" (Giqlioli, "Ibis," 1881, p. 21!)). 



TottiLlength, about 26.(K) inches ; wing, If). 15-18.30 (average 10.39) ; culmen, 1.90-2.20 (2.05) ; 

 depth of bill through angle, .60-.80 (.72) ; tarsus, 2.15-2.50 (2.41) ; middle toe, l.GO-2.15 (1.95). 

 [.Si.\ adults.] 



This easily recognized species more nearly re-sembles, except in size, L. califomkus than L. 

 arijtntaUis, with which it has generally been compared, the color of the mantle being precisely 

 similar, while the eyelids are red, as in that species, and not yellow, as in anjcntutus. The bill, 

 liowever, is similar in shape, size, and color to that of anjeiitdtus, being destitute of the black .spots 

 always present in caU/urniru.i. The feet iire stated to be yellow (cf. Sauxijehs, P. Z. S., 1878, 

 p. 170), v.hile those of califomkus are pea-green, and those of anjcntutus flesh-colored. It would 

 be interesting to know the color of the iris in this species, since its true relationship might thus 

 li(^ more easily determined. L. arycntatus and L. californicus are very different iu this respect, the 

 luinier having pale yellow or silvery-white, the latter dark brown, irides. 



This species has been only quite recently ascertained by Mr. Ridgway to be the 

 common Gidl of the Northern Pacific coast from San Francisco northward to Alaska. 

 While closely resembling the argentatus, ^Ir. Howard Saunders thinks that it may 

 properly be considered as being distinct from that bird. Owing to the great confusion 

 that has existed in regard to the identity of this species, very little can be given witli 

 certainty descriptive of its specific peculiarity of liabits ; and even its area of distri- 

 bution must remain for the jjresent largely conjectural. Mr. Saunders, 'who was not 

 tlien aware of its presence on our Tacitic coast, mentions it as straggling up the 

 French coast as far north as Havre, as replacing the uryoitatus in the Mediterranean, 

 ranging throughout tliat inland sea, and breeding on its shores and islands; thence it 

 extends up the Black Sea, across the st(>ppes and low-lying n;nrshy aiul salt-lake dis- 

 tricts of Russia, from the mouths of the Volga and the shores of the Caspian as far 

 as Vologola; across the Ural River and the Kirgish steppes to the Irtich, and as far 

 a;; Lake Baikal. It goes down the Red Sea; and in winter visits the Rersian Gulf 

 and the Mekran coast as far as Kurrachee. It is also found at that season along the 

 coasts of China ami Japan ; and is the species recorded under the names of L. carfiin- 

 iKuis and L. occidentulls by Swinhoe — who, however, did not meet with the true 

 ocri(li:ntiills, which has never been obtained on the Asiatic shore. All tlu' notes Ave 

 have which can properly be referred to this species as existing on our own coasts 

 have been given under the sujjposition that tlie species spoken of were the urgentatus. 

 Roth Mr. BischofE ami Mr. Dall refer to what is presumed to have been this bird as 

 occurring at Plover Bay, in Eastern Siberia; and he also nu't with it on the Upper 

 Yukon, where he found it replacing the hucopti'rus of the I^ower Yukon. It arrives 

 in that region about the 2d of ^lay, breeds on the islands of that river, where he 

 obtained examples of its eggs. These were laid on the bare ground in slight 

 depressions. 



According to Dr. Cooper's observations, this species is not so common on the 

 Pacific coast as is the urgentatus on that of the Atlantic. It occurs in considerable 

 numbers about the large rivers and lakes of the interior of California, and is not 

 uncommon in the winter on the coast. In the severe winter of 18G1-18G2 Dr. Cooper 



' .According to Professor GigUoli (cf. " Ibis," Ai)ril, 1881, p. 2H>), "the ndnlts in all sea-sons have the 

 hoiiil iiiid neck pare white, without any trace of brown specks, and th(^ legs and feet of n bright yellow." 

 Siii'i iiiicns in the National Museum, however, from .Inpau and the Pncilic coast of North America, arc 

 IiinrktMl as described alwvo. 



VOL. II. _ 31 



