LABIDM—LABIN^: GULLS. 751 



787. C. frankOini. (To Sir John Franklin.) Franklin's Rosy G-ull. Adult in breeding 

 plumage : Bill rather slender, attenuated and a little decurved at the tip, which is acute ; 

 outline of both rami and gonys concave. Bill shorter than head ; tarsus equal to middle toe 

 and claw. Bill red (carmine, lake, or vermilion), crossed v^ith black near the end. Legs 

 dusky-reddish. Edges of eyelids orange. Eyelids white, this color also reaching a Uttle 

 behind the eye. Hood deep slaty or plumbeous-black, encircling the upper part of the neck 

 as well as the head, and extending further on the throat than on the nape. Mantle not quite 

 BO dark as in atridlla (more blue), darker than in Philadelphia. First primary with the outer 

 vane black to within an inch of the tip ; the inner pearly-white, crossed an iuch or more from 

 the tip by an isolated black bar an inch broad, thus leaving the feather white on both webs 

 for an inch or more from the tip. The next five primaries are basally of the color of the back, 

 paler on the inner web, and both webs fading toward their tips into white ; each is crossed by 

 a black bar near the end, two inches wide on the second primary, narrowing on successive 

 feathers to a small bar or pair of little spots on the sixth ; the tips of all these primaries pure 

 white. Other primaries, with secondaries and tertials, colored like the back, fading at the tips 

 into white ; shafts white, sometimes black along the black portion of the feather. TaU very 

 pale pearly-blue, the three lateral pairs of rectrices white — or rather tail white, lightly washed 

 with pearly on the six central feathers. Neck all around, rump, broad tips of secondaries and 

 tertials, and whole under parts white, the latter rosy. Younger, that is to say, in summer 

 plumage, and with a perfect hood, red bill, etc., but the primaries not yet having attained 

 their perfect pattern : Greneral coloration exactly as before. Shafts of first three primaries 

 black, of the rest gray, except along the black portion of the feathers ; 1st primary with the 

 outer web whoUy black, the inner web pearly-gray, much like the back but lighter, to within 

 two or three inches of the' tip, then blacls; for the rest of its extent ; 2d like the 1st, but the 

 base of the outer web like the inner ; on the 3d, 4th, and 5th, successively, the black decreases 

 in extent, till on the 6th it is merely a little bar, or pair of spots ; tips of all the primaries 

 white; that of the 1st primary smallest, that of the others successively increasing in size. 

 Winter plumage : As in summer ; the hood wanting or indicated by a few slaty feathers about 

 the eyes, on the auriculars and nape ; the rosy wanting ; the biU and feet duU-oolored. 

 Young : BUI blackish, with pale base of under mandible ; feet flesh-colored : eye black. 

 Traces of a hood, or nape largely slaty, etc., according to precise age. Outer five or six 

 primaries whoUy black in their continuity, rather lighter and somewhat slaty at base, with 

 or without a minute white speck at the tip. Mantle gray or brown, more or less mixed with 

 blue, according to age. Tail ashy-white, with a broad black subterminal bar. Under parts 

 white. This appears to be the usual plumage of birds of the first autumn. Dimensions : 

 Length about 14.00 inches; extent 35.00; wing 11.25; tail about 4.50; bill along culmen 

 1.30 ; along gape 1.75 ; height at nostril 0.35 ; tarsus 1.60 ; middle toe and claw the same. 

 Young smaller than adults ; bill 1.10-1.20 ; wing 10.00, etc. S. and C. Am. in winter ; in 

 N. Am. migrating through the interior, chiefly west of the Mississippi, to the Arctic regions, 

 abundant ; has never been observed in the Atlantic States. Breeds irom the N. border of 

 the U. S. northward. Eggs 2.12 X 1.40, closely resembling those of the Eskimo curlew in 

 size, shape and color ; though the dark splashes are more evenly distributed over the surface. 

 788. O, Philadelphia. (To the city of that name.) Bonaparte's Rosy Gull. Adult, breeding 

 plumage : BiU shorter than the head or tarsus, much compressed, very slender, like a tern's ; 

 both mandibles vrith a slight but distinct notch near the tip. Convexity of culmen slight, 

 gradual from base to apex; rami slightly concave; gonys about straight. Nostrils very narrow. 

 Tarsus equal to middle toe and claw. Tail somewhat emarginate in the young. Bill 

 black. Mouth and eyelids carmine. Legs and feet coral-red, tinged with vermilion. Webs 

 bright vermilion. Hood plumbeous-slate, not so deep as in frankWni, enveloping the head 

 and upper part of the neck, reaching further before than behind. White patches on eyelids 



