274 



LONG-WINGED SWIMMEllS — LONGIPENNES. 



The first known example of the young of this excessively rare species has very recently hccn 

 described by Mr. Saunders (Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud. 1882, pp. 523, 524, pi. 34), who gives the 

 following information respecting the specimens known to date : — 



"The third known exaniide of this rarest of Gulls, the history of which may here he Inu-llv 

 recapitulated. The Paris Museum possesses one, in somewhat immature plumage, said to Imvc 

 been obtained by Dr. Neboux, of the French frigate ' Venus,' at Monterey, Cal., in the month uf 

 November. The British Museum has an adult in full brc'eding-plumage obtained during the Vdv- 

 age of ll.M. SS. ' Herald' and ' Pandora,' at Dalrymple Rock, Chatham I.sland, Galapagos Chouii, 



nearly on the equator, lietween flu' 

 11th and 16th of January. It is a 

 medium-sized Gull, with long wings 

 (10 inches), a dark slate-colored 

 hood, and a forked tail ; indeed wore 

 it not that the hood is separated from 

 the base of the bill by a band of 

 white feathers, and that there is no 

 black neck-ring at the base of tlie 

 hood, Xema furcatum might be dc^- 

 scribed as a gigantic Sabine's Gull. 

 In the young, now figured, the re- 

 semblance to the young of Ximn 

 Sahinii is very marked. The entire 

 head is white, with dark markings 

 in front of and surrounding the eyes, 

 and a brown auricular patch as in 

 most of the inunature hooded Gulls ; 

 neck and mantle ashy brown, the tijis 

 ot the feathers margined with white ; upper wing-coverts and secondaries white ; primaries 1-5 

 black, with greater part of inner web white, (i and 7 white barred with dusky, 8-10 pure white. 

 Tail much forked, the outer feathers nearly white, the others banded with brown and tipped with 

 white; rump white, slightly mottled with brown. Under par' white. Bill horn-black ; taisi and 

 feet livid brown. The bill is proportionately longer, slenderer, and more curved than in A'. Subiuii, 

 from Avhich it also dilfers in having a considerable bare space between the base of the feathers and 

 the nares. The first primary which shows the slightest tip of white is the 5th, and there is less 

 white at the tips of the upper ones than in the young of X Sahinii. 



" The feathers are all ([uite fresh ; and, reasoning from analogy, I should think that this example 

 cannot have been more than three or four months old. Where, then, are the headcjuarters of this 

 mysterious Gull ? It would seem by this specimen that its breeding-time corresponds to that of 

 the northern hemisphere, and that, like some other Gulls, it passes southward to escape the north- 

 ern winter ; but as yet nothing is known. It is, however, somewhat remarkable that Ameritan 

 naturalists who have devoted so much attention to the exploration ol the coast of the Pacific, fmni 

 Vancouver Island down to Mexico, have discovered no trace of it ; nor have repeated visits to the 

 Galapagos produced more than the isolated adult specimen above noticed. Captain Markham's 

 valuable acquisition has now made us acquainted with the first plumage of this extremely rare 

 bird ; and the proof of the existence of this long-lost species may be expected to awaken an interest 

 which will probably in a few years lead to the discovery ot its retd habitat." 



The Fork-tailod Gull was originally described from a specimen said to have beoii 

 taken at sea off the coa.st of California. There has been no subsequent conhrmation 

 of the claim of this species to a place in the fauna of North America. Dr. Cooper 

 writes me that he has never seen any individual answering to the description of tliis 

 species along the Pacific coast of California, nor litis it been obtained there by any 

 one else. Nothing is known as to its distribution or its general habits. It is now 

 positively asiicrtained that of the three specimens — all that have ever been procured 



