LARUS CALIFORNICUS, CALIFOENIAN GULL. 635 



Jiiilt, summer plumage. — Bill chroine-yellow, tiuged with greenish ; a vermilion spot 

 oil lower manflible at angle ; a black spot just above, forming, with a very small black 

 spot on the upper mandible, an Imperfect transverse band. Feet dusky bluish-green, 

 the webs lighter. Mantle pearl-blue, much as in hraohyrhi/nchiia, lighter than in carms 

 (Linn ), perhaps slightly darker than in argentatm. Primaries : bases of all light 

 bluish-white, internally almost white, especially on the outer, and of great extent on 

 all ; first with a white space at the end for about two inches, rather further on the 

 outer than inner web, the shaft white along the white portion of the feather ; second 

 with a white spot near the end on the whole of the inner and most of the outer web, 

 divided by the black shaft ; tips of all white ; black forming merely a narrow subterm- 

 inal band on the sixth. Tips of inner primaries white, as are also the tips of the sec- 

 ondaries and tertials, the line of demarcation between the white aud the blue of the 

 mantle pretty distinct. 



Adult, ireeding plumage.— EjeliUs bright saffron-yellow. Upper maudible bright 

 chrome, the greater part of the lower vermilion, the rest chrome. Gape of mouth dtwp 

 crimson. 



Adult, winter plumage.— Bill dully colored. Head and neck behind streaked and mot- 

 tled with dusky. 



Nearly mature. — As in the preceding. Tail with an imperfect subterminal black bar. 

 Some of the feathers of the upper parts edged with gray. White space at end of first 

 primary crossed by a transverse black bar ; no spot on second primary. 



Toung. — Bill yellowish flesh-color, black on the terminal half. Head, neck, rump, 

 wing-coverts, tertials and secondaries, mottled with dusky. Primaries aud tail uni- 

 foinily brownish-black, scarcely lighter at the tips. Back as in the adults, but the 

 feathers with grayish edges. 



Dimensions. — Length, 20 inches ; wing, 15 to 16 ; bill, 1.60 to 1.90 ; depth at emi- 

 nentia symphysis, 0.56 ; tarsus, 2 to 2.25 ; middle toe and claw, about the same. 



A very full series of this species in the collection, embracing specimens in every stage 

 of plumage, except that of the young-of-the-year, euables us to give full diagnoses of 

 the difl'crenf ages, and to present its variations. The latter, as regards size, and es- 

 pecially the size and shape of the bill, are very great, equaling, if not exceeding, those of 

 any other species. In the smallest specimen before mo the wing, bill, and taisus, meas- 

 ure, respectively, 14.25, 1.65, and 2.15 ; in the largest, 16.75, 2.20, and 2.60, making the 

 difference in these parts 2.50, 0.55, and 0.40 inches, respectively. Yet with these varia- 

 tions it is not difficult to recognize the species. The bill is larger than in delaiearensis 

 or variety Bruchii, aud has seldom or never the perfect black baud near the tip ; the 

 npper parts are darker than iu either, and the character of the primaries is quite dif- 

 ferent, in the long, white space on the first, instead of a white subterminal spot. From 

 0' cidenfalis it may always he known by its much less robust and deep bill, with lighter 

 upper parts, aud the light bases of the primaries. Though usually cousiderably smaller, 

 with a smaller, weaker bill than in argtntalw, mature birds from high latitudes some- 

 times approach or nearly equal the latter in size, and one specimen before lis has 

 actually a larger bill than in one undoubted argentatus. But the darker upper parts of 

 c ilifornicus, and the very differect character of the primaries, both basally and termin- 

 ally, separate the two without difficulty. 



The first primary of this species, though white for about two inches iu mature birds, 

 has, perhaps usually, a uarrow, irregular, black band across oue or both webs, near the 

 end, dividing the white into a subterminal spot and broad tip. The shaft is always 

 ■white along the white portion of the feather. The spot on the second primary some- 

 times extends only on the inner webs ; the shaft is always wholly black. The shafts 

 of all the primaries are white at the white tips. The orange eyelids and crimson gape 

 are retained only for a short time during the breeding season. In winter the head and 

 neck are streaked with dusky. 



The type-specimen of caHfornicits, kindly furnished for examination by Mr. Lawrence, 

 is moulting, and some of the primaries are not fully grown out. The white apical 

 space on the first primary is crossed by a narrow, transverse, black bar. A large series 

 of skins, however, demonstrates that the black bar is soon resolved Into two spots, or 

 indentations, on the edges of the feather, and then quite disappears, leaving the i)ri- 

 mary purely and uninterruptedly white at its tip for about two iuches. 



Synonymy. — I incline to the ■opiniou that californhus is not the first designation of 

 this species, believing that argentatoides of Richardson (18'-!1) was based upon it. Very 

 numerous specimens of a Gull from the interior of Arctic America are doubtless of the 

 species which Eichatdson calls argentatoides. Their size is somewhat greater than that 

 of Typical examples from California, though no more so than might be expected from 

 their more northern habitat ; and they are a shade lighter in the color of the man le, 

 but otherwise so entirely similar to califorriiciis proper that they were unhesitating y 

 referred to the latter species by both Prof. Baird and myself. The only real diserep- 

 aucy to be reconciled in Richardson's description is the statement that the legs are 

 "flesh-colo'ed," those of the true californicus beingof a dtisky olivaceous, with chrome- 

 yellow webs, much as in delawarensis. In this respect, as well as iu a less powerful 



