744 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LONGIPENNES— GAVI.E. 



the former; in oldest birds tliis spot enlarging to coalesce with the white tip of the feather; 

 second primary usually without a subapical spot, or if one is present it is small. All the pri- 

 maries with small rounded white apices, and black from these apical spots to their bluish-white 

 bases; this band of black growing narrower from the first toward the seventh, where it is a 

 mere point. Winter plumage : Head and neck streaked with dusky; bill less brightly colored. 

 Otherwise as in summer. Immature : The feathers of the back have gray margins ; the upper 

 wing-coverts mottled with dusky-gray. An imperfect subtenninal bar of dusky on the tail. 

 Young of first winter : Head, neck, and whole under parts more or less thickly mottled with 

 dusky, as are the wing-coverts, secondaries, and tertials. The gull-blue of the upper parts 

 appears in irregular patches, mixed with gray. Eemiges and rectrices brownish-black, with 

 very narrow whitish tips, the former wanting both apical and subapical white spots. Bill flesh- 

 color, its terminal third black. Feet dull flesh-color. Younger : Entirely a deep dull brown- 

 ish ; the throat lightly streaked and the rump transversely barred with whitish ; the feathers of 

 the back with yellowish or grayish-white edges ; wings and tail black ; bill black ; legs and 

 feet dusky flesh-color. Dimensions of adult: length, 2i to 2.5 inches; extent 5i to 58; 

 wing 17.00 to IS.OO ; bill along culmen, 2.i0; height at nostril, 0.75; at angle O.SO; tarsus 

 2.75 ; middle toe and claw the same. Female a little, and young considerably less than the 

 above. Wing do\ni to 15.50; bill to 2.20; tarsus to 2.40. N. Am. at large, abundant, both 

 coastwise and in the interior, especially numerous along the Atlantic coast in winter; casually 

 on the Pacific coast. Breeds from New England and the great lakes northward, especially 

 about the St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, and Labrador; but not specially arctic. Nest on 

 the ground, exceptionally in trees ; eggs normally 3, averaging 2.80 X 1.95 ; ground-color from 

 light bluish- or greenish-white to dark brownish-olive; markings of every size and shape, very 

 irregularly disposed, dark brown and blackish, paler brown and neiitral-tint; June and early 

 July. Nestlings covered with whitish down, mottled with angular dusky spots. 



774. L. occidenta'lis. (Lat. occidentaJis, western.) Western Herring Gull. Bill large, very 

 stout and deep ; culmen unusually convex at the end ; angle strcjngly developed, making the 

 under outline doubly-concave. Feet large and stout ; tarsus equal to ndddle toe and claw. 

 Adult, summer plumage : Bill bright chrome-yellow ; a vermilion spot, more or less extensive, 

 at the angle. Mantle dark bluish-ash, almost slate-color; tlie tips of the seet>ndaries and ter- 

 tials white; the Une of demarcation distinct. Primaries: first three black throughout their 

 exposed porti(ins, the outer white for some distance at the tip (1.75 inches), crossed near the 

 end with an irregular black bar, the shafts entirely black; second, witliout a white spot, but 

 its tip, and the tips of all the others, white. Legs and feet flesh-color. Approaching matu- 

 rity : As in the preceding, but the upper parts rather lighter, and the tail with an imperfect 

 subterminal bar of black. Intermediate : Bill much as in the adult. AVhite of the head, 

 neck, and under parts, more or less mottled with dusky; " gull-blue " of the upper parts ap- 

 pearing in irregular patches ; most of the feathers tipped with light gray. Primaries and tail 

 unifirm deep blackish-brown, with scarcely lighter tips, the former without spots. Young-of- 

 the-year : Bill entirely black, rather shorter than in the adults, but at the same time with 

 great comparative depth at the angle. Everywhere a deep blackish-brown, mottled with 

 grayish -white, tlie feathers of the upper parts being tipped and edged with that color. Rump 

 and upper tail-coverts barred with whitish and dusky. Wings and tail as in tlie preceding. 

 Winter plumage : This species seems to form an exception to the rule wliich obtains so exten- 

 sively among large gulls, since in winter the head and neck behind are not, ordinarily at least, 

 streaked witli dusky. Dimensions of adult: length 24 inches; extent 55.00; wiug 16.50; 

 bill above 2.30 ; along gape 3.10 ; height at nostril 0.75 ; width 0.40 ; height at angle 0.85 ; 

 tarsus, and middle toe and claw, 3.75. Pacific Coast of N. A., very common. 



775. L. cachin'nans. (Lat. cachinnans, laughing immoderately.) Palla.s'.s Gull. Size, pro- 

 portions of parts, pattern of primaries, etc., as in a common Herring Gall. Feet yellow (not 



