94 PIRPS OF BRITISH GUIANA. 



Ranpe in Bvifish Guiana. Upper Takutn Mountains, Itnrll)i?i 

 River, Abary River (McConnell voUection) ; Georoetown (Quelch) ; 

 Hoorie Creek {Beehe) ; Mount Arrisaro, Upper Corentyne River 

 {Brown); Upper Essequebo River, Rupiiniini River {Sthom- 

 hur^k). 



E.dralimital Ilanne. Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, 

 Chile. 



Hahits. Schomburok states (Reis. Guian. iii. p. 7H1) that he 

 met with this bird in large flocks near the coast, especially at tlie 

 mouths of the oceanic rivers. They also travel up the rivers, 

 the sandv banks of which are their breeding-places. He found 

 them, also in large flocks, on the Upper Essequebo and even on 

 the Rupununi, about 800 miles inland. The " Macusis " call it, 

 Darra Ikirra and the "" Warraus " Manarih. 



Mr. Barrington Brown (Canoe and Camp Life, p. 05) 

 writes : — " ' The Scissor-bill Gulls ' or ' Sea-dogs ' also are fre- 

 quently seen flying swiftly along in small parties, with iheir 

 .sharp, flat beaks dipping in the w^ater. Their cry resembles 

 somewhat the bark of a dog, hence they have received the name 

 of 'Sea-dogs.' On the Upper Corentyne we saw a few of the 

 Scissor-bill and small Gray Gulls." 



Mr. Beebe (Our Search for a Wilderness, pp. 135, 148) 

 gives the following note : — '' Black-tailed Skimmers ploughed 

 the surface of the tide in endless furrows, and a large Skimmer 

 flew past the boat, and Inter we saw several flocks. In the calm 

 of the evening the ' yap I yap I ' of a passing but invisible Skimmei 

 came faintly." 



Mr. J. J. Quelch (Timehri (2) v. p. 106) observed this species 

 at Georgetown, and remarks : — " The Large Sci?sor4jill Gull 

 {Rht/ncJiops nigra) will at once be known by the peculiarly 

 flattened (in a vertical direction) and elongated bill from which 

 its name is taken." 



Genus LAEUS Linn. 

 Larus Lmne, Syst. Xat. 10th ed. i. p. 13G, 1758. Type L. crmi/s LI 



The cl.'ief characters of this genus, which sejiarate it at once 

 from Sterna, are the short and stout bill, sharply curved upper 

 mandible, and short gonys, the almost square tail, and having a 

 portion of the tibia unfeathered. 



nn. 



