348 LARID^ : JAEGERS, GULLS, TERNS, ETC. 



HERRING GULL; COMMON GULL. 

 Larus argentatus smithsonianus Coues. 



Chars. Adult : general plumage white. Feet flesh-color ; bill 

 yellow with red spot ; mantle dull blue (darker than in glaucus, 

 but 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 great majority of specimens will be found to have the 

 not quite mature or final condition). Length, 22.00-27.00 ; wing, 

 15.00-18.00; tarsus, 2.25-1.75 ; bill about 2.25 long, about 0.67- 

 0.75 deep at base, and about the same at the protuberance. 

 In winter: head and hind neck streaked with dusky. Young: 

 at first almost entirely fuscous or sooty-brown, the feathers 

 of the back and wings with paler edges ; bill black ; quills and 

 tail black, white-tipped or not; size at the minimum above given. 

 As it 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-colored or yellowish, 

 black-tipped. The American bird proves to average larger than 

 the European in all its parts, as observed in several other water- 

 birds ; whence L. smithsonianus Coues. 



This is the commonest New England Gull, neither 

 confined to the coast, nor occurring only in winter, 

 though more frequently under these than any other 

 circumstances. It appears to have formerly bred along 

 the coast from Massachusetts northward, and individuals 

 are still to be seen now and then during the whole year ; 

 but its breeding seems to be now chiefly if not entirely 

 confined to eastern localities in Maine. Farther east 

 and north it is extremely common in summer, as in 



