548 BIRDS — LARID^. 



Labtjs argentatus Brunn. 

 var. sMiTHSONiANUs Coues. 



A merican Herring Grtill. 



Larm argentatus, Audubon, Orn. Biog., iii, 1835, 98; B. Am., vii, 1844, 152, 167. — Kirt- 



LAKD, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 166, 185.— Wheaton, Ohio Agrio. Eep. for 1860, 370 ; 



Eeprint, 1861, 12. 

 Lao'vs argentatus, var. smithsonianus, Wheaton, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agrio. Eep. for 



1874, 575 ; Eeprint, 1875, 15.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 18 ; EevUed List, 



Journ. CCa. Soo. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 186; Reprint, 20. 

 1 Larus oeddentalis. Trembly, Field Notes, i, 1861, 129, 180. 

 Herring Gull, Baixou, Field and Forest, iii, 1878, 136. 



Larus argentatus, Brunnich, Orn. Bor. 1764, 44. 



Larus amithaonianus, Coues, Proo. Phila. Acad., 1862, 296. 



Larus argentatus, var. smithsonianus, Coues, Check List, 1874, 103. 



Feet flesh-color ; bill yellow with red spot ; mantle pale dnll bine (darker than in 

 Imcopterus, bnt nothing like the deep slate of marinus, much the same as in all the rest of 

 the species) ; primaries marked as in marinus (but the greater majority of specimens will 

 be found to have the not quite mature or final condition) ; length, 22-27 ; wing, 15-18 ; 

 tarsus, 2J-2f ; bill, about 2i long, about J-i deep at bas?, and about tbe same at the pre- 

 tnberance. In winter : head and hind neck streaked with dusky. Toumg : — At first 

 almost entirely fuscous or sooty-brown, the feathers of the back, white-tipped or not ; 

 size at the minimum above given. As its grows old, it gradually lightens ; the head, 

 neck and under parts are usually quite whitish, before the markings of the quills are 

 apparent, and before the blue begins to show, as it does in patches, mixed with brown ; 

 the black on the tail narrows to a bar, at the time the primaries are assuming their 

 characters, but this bar disappears before the primaries gain their perfect pattern. 

 At one time the bill Is flesh-color or yellowish, black-tipped. 



Habitat, North America generally ; especially on the Atlantic coast. Cuba to Labra- 

 dor ; breeding from New England northward. Also in the interior, and occasionally on 

 the Pacific coast. 



Common spring and fall migrant on Lake Erie, less common on the 

 Ohio ; common but irregular, most frequent in spring, on the streams of - 

 the interior of the State. In the vicinity of this city, the Herring Gull 

 is, in spring, the most frequently seen of all the Gulls, though usually 

 occurring singly or in small companies of six or eight, and never in con- 

 siderable numbers as is sometimes the case with Bonaparte's Gull. They 

 frequent the swift shallows below dams, flying up, down and across the 

 stream hunting for fish, which they pounce upon, somewhat in the 

 manner of the Kingfisher, occasionally alighting in the water, appaivsntly 

 to rest, These birds are generally more shy and wary than they are 

 found in the cities of the bke shore, where they spend much of iheir 

 time among the shipping of the river^s or harbor apparently as uncon- 

 eerned in the presence of man as are domestic pigeons. Occasionally an 



