746 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS.— LONGIPENNES— GAVIjE. 



to the feathers. Head, neck, and under parts, mottled with white and dusky. Primaries 

 uniformly black ; secondaries with a patch of hrownish-black near the ends ; tertials wholly 

 brownish-black, narrowly tipped with whitish. Tail with a broad subterminal band of black, ' 

 nan-owly tipped with white. Terminal half of bill black, the extreme tip yellowish. Young- 

 of-the-year in August : Everywhere mottled thickly with brownish-black, on the upper parts 

 the feathers with yellowish-white edges, the pearl-blue of the adults scarcely apparent, except 

 on the wing-coverts. Terminal two-thirds of bill with the tip black, the rest light flesh- 

 color. Dimensions: length 19.75; extent 48.50; wing 14.75; bill above 1.70; gape 2.30; 

 height at nostril 0.45 ; at angle 0.50 ; tarsus 2.10 ; middle toe 1.80. N. Am. at large, on 

 the whole the commonest species, both coastwise and in the interior; breeds in the U. S. as 

 well as far north. 



779. li. ca'nus. (Lat. canus, hoary gray.) European Mew Gtjll. Assigned to N. A. on 

 strength of a specimen shot by me in Labrador in 1860. It is entirely like the next to be 

 described excepting the following particulars : Tarsus a fourth longer than the middle toe and 

 claw. BUI stouter, with less convex culmen and better developed angle. The bluish bases of 

 the primaries darker, not fading into white at their junction with the black, not running so far 

 along the feathers, nor farther in the centres than along the edges of the inner webs. Size 

 greater. Probably not more than varietally distinct from the next to be described. 



fSO. L. brachyrtyn'chus. (Gr. ^paxvs, hraehus, short; pvyxos, hrugchos, beak.) Amekecan 

 Mew Gull. Bill small, somewhat stout for its length, much shorter than the head or tarsus. 

 Upper mandible straight to the end of the nostrils, moderately convex to the tip, rather more 

 so than in ccmus. Angle of lower mandible pretty well-developed, comparatively more so than 

 in canus ; the lower outhne considerably concave posterior to it, somewhat so before it. 

 Commissure about straight to near the tip. Tarsus and middle toe and claw about equal, the 

 former but little if any longer than the latter. Adult in summer : Bill bluish-green, its ter- 

 minal third bright yellow. Legs and feet dusky bluish -green, the webs yellowish. Mantle light 

 grayish-blue or dark pearl-blue, a shade darker than in eamus, much darker than in delawa- 

 rensis. Primaries : the bluish-gray bases rather lighter than in ccmus, much darker than in 

 delawarensis, but fading into nearly pure white on all but the first at the juncture with the 

 black portion ; these bluish-gi'ay bases of the feathers extend toward the ends much further 

 than in canus, as far as in delawarensis, and, as in that species, on the 2d, 3d, and 4th, extend 

 further along the central portions of the inner web than at the edges, so that they are bordered 

 for some distance with the black of the terminal portions of the feathers. The black takes in 

 the outer web of the 1st primary and nearly the whole of the inner, but rapidly becomes nar- 

 rower, till it is merely a subterminal transverse bar on the 6th. The 7th has frequently a spot 

 of black on one or both webs. First, with a large white spot near the end two inches long, 

 longer on the outer than on the inner web, not divided by the black shaft, the tip of the feather 

 black ; 2d, with a similar spot, but smaller, not longer on the outer than on the inner web, 

 and divided by the black shaft ; the extreme apex white, as are the apices of aU the other 

 primaries except the 1st. Adult, high breeding plumage : Eyelid, ocular region, and gape of 

 mouth, bright orange-yeUow, which color extends over the tip and cutting edges of the bill. 

 The green of the biU with a peculiar hoary glaucescence. Legs and feet bluish-green, the 

 webs bright gamboge-yellow. Sometimes a faint pink blush of the plumage of the under 

 parte. Adult in winter : The head and neck all round, vrith the upper part of the breast, mot- 

 tled with dusky. Approaching maturity : Head and neck faintly mottled. Primaries brown- 

 ish-black, vrithout decided white tips ; the spots on the 1st and 2d restricted. Tertials with a 

 dusky spot on each web near the end. Tail with a more or less perfect subterminal band. 

 Young, first winter : Bill flesh-eolor ; black on the terminal half. Legs and feet light yellow- 

 ish. Head, neck, rump, and whole under parts, mottled irregularly with dusky. Back as in 

 the adult, but the feathers with grayish edgings. Wing-coverts, secondaries, and tertials 



