LARIDiE — THE GULLS AND TERNS — LARUS. 



225 



Larus marinus. 



THE BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



Larus marinus, Linn. S. N. ed. 10, i. 1758,136 ; ed. 12, 1. 1766, 225. — 2TuTT. Man. IL 1834, 308.— 

 AUD. Om. Biog. IIL 1835, 305 ; V. 1839, 636, pi. 241 ; Synop. 1839, 329 ; B. Am. VII. 1844, 172, 

 pi. 450. — Lawk, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 844. — Baiud, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 660.— 

 CouES, Key, 1872, 312 ; Check List, 1873, no. 546; 2d ed. 1882, no. 771; B. N, W. 1874, 624. — 

 RiDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 663. 



Larus nicjcr, Briss. Orn.VI. 1760, 158. 



Larus nccvius, Linn. S. N. I. 1766, 225. 



Larus maculatus, Bodd. Tabl. P. E. 1783, 16 (nee Brunn. 1764). 



Larus maximus, Leach, Cat. 1816, 40. 



Larus Mulleri, Brehm, Vcig. Deutschl. 1831, 729, 



Larus Fabricii, Brehm, t. c. 730. 



Hab. Coasts of the North Atlantic ; in America, south in winter to Long Island and the Great 

 Lakes ? 



Sp. Char. Size very large (about equal to L. glaucus). Adult, summer plumufje : Mantle dark 

 brownish slate, the secondaries and tertials broadly (the former abruptly) tipped with white ; first 

 primary black, with the end for a distance of about 2.50 inches, white ; second similar, but the white 

 tip marked near the end by a broad black bar on one or both webs; fourth quill black, tipped with 

 white ; fifth and sixth quills more slaty, tipped with white, and with a wide black subterminal 

 space, preceded by an irregu- 

 lar white bar ; shorter quills 

 lighter slate, widely tipped 

 with white. Rest of the plu- 

 mage pure white. " Bill gam- 

 boge-yellow, the lower mandi- 

 ble bright carmine toward the 

 end ; edges of eyelids bright 

 carmine ; iris silvery ; feet 

 yellow ;'■ claws black "(Audu- 

 bon). Adult, in winter : Sim- 

 ilar to the summer plumage, 

 but head and neck, superiorly 

 and posteriorly, streaked with 

 dusky. Young, first plumage: 

 Above, dark slate-brown, the 

 feathers broadly bordered with 

 pale dull buff ; remiges uni- 

 form brownish dusky, with 

 narrow whitish tips ; rectrices 

 dusky, tipped with white and 

 crossed near the end by a nar- 

 row band of grayish or brown- 

 ish white. Head, neck, and lower parts dirty white, the head and neck, superiorly and posteriorly, 

 streaked, and the lateral lower parts clouded or irregularly spotted, with grayish brown. Bill 

 dusky, black terminally and brownish at the base ; iris dark brown ; legs and feet "dusky wliir- 

 ish" (CouES, MS.). Downy young: Prevailing color grayish white, the upper parts marbled or 

 irregularly spotted with dull grayish. Head marked with numerous irregular spots of dull black, 

 somewhat as foUows : forehead with a narrow mesial streak ; crown with two spots, one behind the 



1 Other authorities give the color of the feet as flesh-color ; and it seems that Audubon made a mistake 

 in calling them yellow. Macgillivray describes the fresh colors of the adult male in winter as follows : 

 "The bill is light yellow, the lower mandible with an orange-red patch near the end; the edges of the 

 eyelids orange-red, the iris pale yellow ; the feet flesh-colored, the claws dusky." 

 VOL. II. — 29 



