172 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE LARINjE. [Feb. 5, 



the Red Sea and the Beloochistan coast, which had formerly been a 

 great trouble, most of them being in immature plumage, and not 

 suiting either L. cachinnans or L.fuscus. 



Mr. Hume's description of the pattern of the primaries of the birds 

 found in winter about Kurrachee (Stray Feathers, 1873, p. 273) 

 shows clearly that his L. occidentalis is this species, and by no 

 means the true American bird, the occurrence of which, as I 

 have said before, has never yet been authenticated on the coasts of 

 Asia. 



Heuglin's dark-mantled bird from Novaya Zemlia is clearly L. 

 affinis ; and Middendorff's description of a variety of L. argent atus 

 found round the southern shores of the Sea of Okhotsk also applies 

 to this species. 



It may appear strange at first sight that this species should have 

 been first described from Greenland ; but that is merely due to the 

 unusually careful attention which the fauna of that country has 

 received from Dr. Reinhardt, whose watchful eyes not even a straggler 

 could escape. I have examined the type, and am satisfied that it is 

 of this species. It connects with L. fuscus rather closely (although 

 quite distinct) in the length of its foot as compared with that of the 

 tarsus, it having a proportionally smaller foot than either L. argen- 

 tatus, L. cachinnans, or L. occidentalis, but larger than L. fuscus. 

 From the last it may also be distinguished by its larger size and the 

 distinct "pattern" of the outer primaries, the grey wedge being 

 quite marked in this species, whilst it is absent in the outer feather 

 of L. fnscus. The mirror on the second primary is moreover only 

 to be found in very old birds (not one of thirteen breeding-birds 

 obtained on the Petchora had it) ; whilst in old L. fuscus this 

 mirror is always present. The present species is in fact a Herring- 

 Gull which passes the whole of the year in a brilliant atmosphere ; 

 and I cannot help thinking that to this, and to other conditions of 

 existence with which we are as yet unacquainted, its intensity of 

 coloration is mainly attributable. 



10. Lartjs occidentalis, Audubon. 



Larus occidentalis, Aud. Orn. Biogr. v. p. 320 (1839) ; Lawr. B. 

 of N. Am. p. 845 (1858) ; Elliot, B. N. Am. ii. pi. In.; Coues, 

 P. Ac. N. S. Philad. 1862, p. 296; Schl. M. P.-Bas, Lari, p. 15 

 (1863). 



Giaucus occidentalis, Bruch, J. f. Orn. 1853, p. 101. 



Laroides occidentalis, id. op. cit. 1855, p. 282 ; Bp. Consp. Av. ii. 

 p. 219 (1857). 



Larus argentatus, var. occidentalis, Coues, Key N. Am. Birds, 

 p. 312 (1872) ; id. B. of N.W. Am. p. 633 (1874). 



Larus fuscusl , Saund. P. Z. S. 1875, p. 158 (Lower California). 



Hab. Pacific coast of North America down to Magdalena Bav, 

 Lower California. 



It seems to me that this is a very recognizable form, and fully 

 deserving of consideration as a species. Its nearest ally is, on the 

 whole, L. affinis; but in the wing-pattern the grey wedge is absent in 



