316 LAKID^, GULLS. GEN. 286. 



carmine, former usually with a black mark near the end; mantle bluish- 

 plumbeous, the ends of the secondaries white nearly an inch ; hood blackish- 

 jDlumbeous, with white eyelids. Final pattern of primaries: — shaft of 1st 

 entirely white, of next 5 white except in the portion of the quill occupied 

 by black ; 1st with its outer web and a bar on the inner web, black, leaving 

 the tip wholly white an inch or more, rest of the feather pearly white; 

 next 5 crossed by a black bar on both Avebs, 2-3 inches wide on the 2nd 

 quill, narrowing to a mere spot on the 6th ; tips of all these broadly white. 

 Younger birds have much more black on the wiug, in a diflerent pattern, 

 and the tail washed with bluish {Gh. mcullatiis Light. ; Lawr. IuBd., 851, 

 pi. 95; CouES, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1862, 309). Central America and 

 Mexico in winter, migrating in the interior, west of the Mississippi, to 

 the Arctic regions ; abundant ; has not been observed in the Atlantic States. 

 Larus franhlini Eich., F. B.-A., ii, 424, pi. 71; Niitt., ii, 293; AcD., 



vii, 145; Gh. franhlini Lawk, in Bd., 851 feanklinii. 



^♦jj'v Bonaparte's Gull. Tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw. Small; 

 12-14; wing 9J-10J ; tarsus 1-J- ; bill IJ-IJ, very slender, like a tern's. 

 Adult in summer: bill black ; mantle pearly blue, much paler than in the 

 foregoing ; hood slaty-plumbeous, with white touches on the eyelids ; many 

 , wing coverts white ; feet chrome yellow, tinged with coral red ; webs vei- 

 milion. Primaries finally : — the first 5-6 with the shafts white exce^jt at tip ; 

 1st white, with outer web and extreme tip black; 2d white, more broadlj^ 

 crossed with black ; 3d to 6th-8th with the black successively decreasing. In 

 winter, no hood, but a dark auricular spot. Young : mottled and patched 

 above with brown or gray, and usually a dusky bar on the wing ; the tail 

 with a black bar, the primaries with more black, the bill duskjr, much of the 

 lower mandible flesh-colored or yellowish, as are the feet. JST. Am. ; breeds 

 in the Arctic regions ; very abundant in the U. S. during the migration. 

 Sterna Philadelphia Ord, Guthrie's Geog. 2d Am. ed. ii, 319; Ch. Phila- 

 delphia Lawe. in Bd., 852 ; L. bonapjartei Eich., F. B.-A., ii, 425, pi. 72 ; 

 NuTT., ii, 294; Aud., vii, 131, pi. 442; Coues, I. c. 310. philadelpiiia. 



Obs. The sexes of this gull are alike, as in all other cases. Aadubou is wrong- 

 in figuring the ? with a brown hood. But it is a question whether the " brown- 

 headed gull," Larus capistratiis of Bon., Syn. p. 358, No. 293 — NnTT., ii, 290, 

 should be considered as this species, or as the true European bird, L. ridibundus, 

 erroneously attributed to this countrj'. The European Least Gull, L. minutus, has 

 been introduced to our fauna upon erroneous information, the single authority 

 (Sabine) for its occurrence having doubtless mistaken the last species for it. 

 Rich., F. B.-A. ii, 426 ; Nbtt., ii, 289 ; Lawr. in Bd. 853. See Coues, I. c. 311. 



286. Genus EHODOSTETHIA Macgillivray. 



i"'/ I Wedge-tailed, or Boss' Bosy Gull. Adult: white, rosy-tinted; a black 

 collar, but no hood ; mantle pearly-blue ; primaries marked with black ; bill 

 black; feet vermilion ; length 14 ; wing lOJ ; "bill along the ridge 5," very 

 slender ; tarsus little over 1 ; tail 5 J, cuneate, the graduation being one 



