LABIDJE — LAMNjJi] : G ULLS. 



751 



rST. C. frank'lini. (To Sir John Franklin.) Feaxklin'S Kosy Gull. Adult in breeding 

 plumage : Bill rather slender, attenuated and a little decurved at the tip, wliiuh is acute ; 

 outline of hoth rami and gouys concave. Bill shorter than head; tarsus equal to middle too 

 and claw. Bill red (carmine, lake, or vermilion), crossed with black near the end. Legs 

 dusky-redchsh. Edges of eyelids orange. Eyehds white, this color also reaching a little 

 behind the eye. Hood deep slaty or plumbeous-black, encircling the upper part of the neck 

 as well as the head, and extending further on the throat than on the nape. Mantle not quite 

 so dark as in atriciUa (more blue), darker than in Philadelphia. First primary with the outer 

 vane black to within an inch of the tip; the inner pearly-white, crossed an inch or more fr.jm 

 tlie tip by an isolated black bar an inch broad, thus leaving the feather white on both webs 

 for an inch or more from the tip. The next five prhnaries are basally of the color of the back, 

 paler on the inner web, and both webs fatUng toward their tips into white ; each is crossed by 

 a black bar near the end, two inches wide on the second primary, uaiTowing on successive 

 feathers to a small bar or pair of little spots on tlie sixth ; the tips of all these primaries pure 

 white. Other primaries, with secondaries and tertials, colored hke the back, fading at the tips 

 into white ; shafts white, sometimes black along the black portion of the feather. Tail very 

 pale pearly-blue, the three lateral pairs of rectrices white — or rather tail white, lightly washed 

 with pearly on the six central feathers. Neck all around, rump, broad tips of secondaries and 

 tertials, and whole under parts white, the latter rosy. Younger, that is to say, in summer 

 plumage, and with a perfect hood, red bill, etc., but the primaries not yet having attained 

 their perfect pattern : General coloration exactly as before. Shafts of first three primaries 

 black, of the rest gray, except along the black portion of the feathers ; 1st primary witli the 

 outer web wlrolly black, the inner web pearly-gray, much like tlie back but lighter, to within 

 two or three inches of the tip, then black for the rest of its extent ; 2d like the 1st, but the 

 base of the outer web like the inner; on tlie 3d, 4th, and 5th, successively, the black decreases 

 in extent, till on tire 6th it is merely a httle bar, or pair of spots ; tips of all the primaries 

 white; that of the 1st primary smallest, that of the others successively increasing in size. 

 Winter plumage : As in summer ; the hood wanting or indicated by a few slaty feathers about 

 the eyes, on the auriculars and nape ; the rosy wanting ; tlie bill and feet dull-colored. 

 Young : BiU blackish, with jDale base of under mandible ; feet flesh-colored ; eye lilacli;. 

 Traces of a hood, or nape largely slaty, etc., according to precise age. Outer five or sis 

 primaries wholly black in tlieir continuity, ratlrer liglitcr and somewhat slaty at base, M'ith 

 or without a minute white speck at the tip. Mantle gray or brown, more or less mixed with 

 blue, according to age. Tail ashy-white, with a broad black subterminal bar. Under parts 

 white. This appears to be the usual plumage of birds of the first autumn. Dimensions : 

 Length about 14.00 inches; extent 35.00; wing 11.25; tail about 4.50; bill along culmen 

 1.30 ; along gape 1.75 ; height at nostril 0.35 ; tarsus l.GO ; middle toe and claw the same. 

 Young smaller than adults ; bill 1.10-1.20 ; \ving 10.00, etc. S. and C. Am. in winter ; in 

 N. Am. migrating through the interior, chiefly west of the Mississippi, to the Arctic regions, 

 abundant; has never been observed in the Atlantic States. Breeds from the X. border of 

 the U. S. northward. Eggs 2.12 X 1-40, closely resembling those of the Eskimo curlew in 

 size, shape and color ; though the dark splashes are more evenly distributed over the surface. 

 788. C, philadel'phia. (To the city of that name.) Bonaparte's Kosy Gull. Adult, breeding 

 plumage : Bill shorter than the head or tarsus, much compressed, very slender, like a tern's ; 

 both mandibles with a sliglit but distinct notch near the tip. Convexity of culmen slight, 

 gradual from base to apex; rami slightly concave; gonys about straight. Nostrils very narrow. 

 Tarsus equal to middle toe and claw. Tail somewhat emarginate in the young. Bill 

 black. Mouth and eyelids carmine. Legs and feet coral-red, tinged with vermilion. Webs 

 bright vermilion. Hood plumbeous-slate, not so deep as in fnmklini, enveloping the head 

 and upper part of the neck, reaching further before than behind. White patches on eyelids 



