1878.1 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON THE LARINiE. J 75 



before Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie Brown's explorations on the 

 ^etchora had made me acquainted with a series of L. affinis, I was 

 much puzzled by Mr. W. Blanford's immature bird! from U 

 Baluchistan coast obtained in December 1871 to January 1872 and 

 I led him into the error of ascribing them to L. fusds. By my 

 note-book of specimens examined I find that I was in much doubt 

 even at that time, owing to their size and the relative dimensions of 

 the feet and tarsi ; but according to my lights I could then ascribe 

 them to nothing else. I now consider them to have been L 

 ajfims. 



12. Larus californicus, Lawr. 

 J Larus niveus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso- As. ii. p. 320 d! SrWimn 

 (Kamtschatka), nee Bodd. T. PI. Enl. 994 (1783) P ( } * 



ILaroidesamericanus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p! 743 (1831) 

 Larus calif amicus, Lawr. Ann. Lye. New York, vi. 1854 p 7Q • 



; 300 id b of £w 6 i l858); « c ° ues ' Pr - Ac - k s - wkiSi 



p. -3UU; id. ±5. of N.W. Am. p. 634 (1874). 



Laroides calif amicus, Bp. Consp. Av. ii. p . 220 (1857) 



V ^{\in) aremiS ' VSr ' CaUf0rnicus > Coues > ^ey N.'-Am. B. 



Hah. Pacific coast of North America from Vancouver's Island to 



SI^Tt L ° r T a ' T nd thC iQteri0r as far as the vicinity ofGrea? 

 Slave Lake; also Japan coast, whence I have examined an addt 



t John" H M 8 T " °> T ^^ ale T ' S C ° lleCti011 ' 0btai » ed ^ c'p 

 Ht John, H.M.S. 'Sylvia ' off Kali, Japan, in January I872! 



lie name L niveus, Pallas, is not available, having been previously 



employed by Boddaert for Pagophila ebumea; bu I have long been 



of opinion that the bird described by Pallas under that name was 



really this species-a conviction strengthened by the sight ofTi un- 



Pacmc H k ^VT"' PI '° Ving th ^ it does croVthe North 

 Pacific. It has generally been supposed to apply to a larger race of 

 L canus- but Pallas knew L. canus perfectly well, and hede ?nbe 

 his L niveus as a somewhat scarce visito/ to the northei and 

 Kamtschatkan seas, and not in the habit of going far up he i vers 

 also as « magnitude corvi coracis." Now the largest Fcamis could 

 hardly be described as of the size of a Raven ; andfexcept in the wini 

 which is proportionally lono- in that Bull tk* ^ fi P g ' 



are too l,,» far ^ u TS , ' tne other measurements 



P?lwJ g • ; , but tne - V eXaCt1 ^ suit L - calif amicus, and 



Pallas s figure is a perfect portrait of a specimen recently sent to me 



or 8 Pe hanslr" ° f the ailthorities * ^ Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. Perhaps these remarks may assist in laying the ghost of that 



S5SS?"* nearly a century has bL hauufin * < h * s 



Dr. Coues inserts with a ? L. argentataides, Bonap. Synopsis 

 Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. New York, p. 300 (1828), as the Jarliest name 

 for this species, whilst disavowing any desire to ''supersede W 

 fade; but as the name had already been applied by Brehm „T?822 

 for R aryentatus, it could not be used for this species, even if correct 

 But Bonaparte says of his species :-« Common near New York and 



