264 LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS — LONGIPENNES. 



on spruce-trees. One nest which he examined contained three young birds of a dirty 

 yellowish color, thickly spotted with dark brown. He saw between twenty-five and 

 fifty Gulls about that breeding-place, but he found only a few of their nests. These 

 birds were said by the Indians always to breed in similar situations. 



In regard to twenty -two other nests described by Mr. MacFarlane, we gather that 

 the usual maximum number of eggs in a nest is three — very rarely four ; that all are 

 placed in elevated situations, on high stumps, or bushes, or trees ; that the nests are 

 made of sticks, and lined Avith hay and other soft substances ; and that the parents 

 are fearless when they have young, flying about in close proximity, and screaming 

 vehemently. The nests were found with eggs from June 10 to the 10th of July ; 

 and in some cases mosses and lichens from the pines and spruces had been largely 

 used in their construction. They were usually placed flat on horizontal branches at 

 some distance from the trunk. The eggs procured by Mr. MacFarlane vary in length 

 from 1.90 to 2.05 inches, and in breadth from 1.35 to 1.45. Their ground-color is a 

 grayish olive, passing into a greenish tint ; while the markings consist of small spots 

 of clove-brown, and are chiefly gathered around the larger end of the egg. 



Specimens of this Gull and of its eggs were also procured at Fort Resolution, on 

 the Yukon ; at Fort Simpson, at Big Island, at Fort Rae, and at Peel's River Fort ; 

 at Fort Good Hope, Fort Anderson, on the Lower Anderson ; and at various other 

 points. 



Larus minutus. 



LITTLE GTTLL. 



Larus albus, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. 1769, 106 (not of Gunn., 1767). 



Larus minutus, Pall. Reise, Russ. Reichs, III. App. no. 35 (1776) ; Zoog. Rosso-As. II. 1826, 331. 



— Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 595. —Saunders, P. Z. S. 1878, 206. 

 Chroicocephxtlus minutus, Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. 1836, 61. 



Larus atricilloidcs, Falk, Itin. III. p. 355, t. 24 (tide Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 601). 

 Larus d'Orbigmji, Audouin, Hist. Nat. de I'Egypte, 1825, pi. 9, fig. 3, Expl. p. 271. 

 Lurus nigrutis, Less. Tfaite, II. 1831, 619. 



Sp. Char. Adult, in summer : Head and extreme upper part of the neck uniform deep black ; 

 middle and lower part of the neck (all round), entire lower parts, upper tail-coverts, tail, and ends 

 of the reniiges (broadly) snow-white. Mantle, including reniiges, except their ends, delicate pale 



Winter adult. 



pearl-blue. " Bill blackish red, gape dark red : legs bright vermilion or coral ; iris deep brown" 

 (Sharpe & Dresser). Adult, in winter : Similar, but head and neck white, the occiput wasiied 

 with brownisli gray, and the auricular region marked by a spot of dusky black. " Feet yellowish 

 red" (Sharpe &: Dresser). Young, first iilumage: Forehead, lores, cheeks, entire lower parts, 



