352 LARIDiE : JAEGERS, GULLS, TERNS, ETC. 



pears to have formerly been more common than it is 

 now, and Mr. Allen speaks of its being nearly extir- 

 pated in Massachusetts. It t^&Uy arrives in April, 

 and remains until September, sometimes into October. 

 The nest is placed upon the ground, usually the sand 

 of the seashore ; the eggs are two or three in number, 

 usually three, measuring from 2.00 to 2.25 in length by 

 about 1.60 in breadth; in coloration they are not dis- 

 tinguishable from those of other Gulls. The bird breeds 

 only very sparingly north of Massachusetts. 



BONAPARTE'S GULL. 



Chroicocephalus PHILADELPHIA (Ord) Luwr. 



Chars. Tarsus about equal to middle toe and claw. Small. Length, 

 12.00-14.00; wing, 9.50-1050; tarsus, 1. 33; bill, 1.12-1.25, very 

 slender, like a Tern's. Adult in summer : bill black ; mantle 

 pearly blue, much paler than in the foregoing; hood slaty-plumb- 

 eous, with white touches on the eyelids ; many wing-coverts 

 white ; feet chrome yellow tinged with coral red ; webs ver- 

 milion. Primaries finally, -r the first five or six with the shafts 

 white except at tip ; first, white, with outer web and extreme tip 

 black; second, white, more broadly crossed with black ; third to 

 sixth or eighth, with the black successively decreasing. In win- 

 ter, 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 dusky, much of the lower mandible flesh-colored 

 or yellowish, as are the feet. 



Bonaparte's Gull is one of the smallest and airiest 

 species of the Laridce, closely resembling a sea-swallow 

 both in habits and in general appearance. It is very 



