316 



LAEIN^. 



Larus cacchinnans. Pall. Zoogr. Rosso. As. ii. p. 318. Larua 

 argentatus, Bp. Icon. F. Ital. TIccel. ; Hume, YarkandExp. Zool. p. 299 ; 

 id. Sir. F. i. 270 ; vii. 463 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zool., Ssc, Sind, p. 245. 

 Larus leucophaeus, Licld. Norn. Av. Mus. Berol. p. 99 ; Dresser, B. Eur. 

 pt. xxii. — The Yellow-legged Herring Gull. 



Summer Plumage. — Entire head, neck all round, entire lower parts, 

 upper tail-coverts and tail pure white ; round the eye an orange red 

 ring ; entire mantle and back, tertiaries and secondaries a delicate pale 

 bluish grey ; the tertiaries and secondaries and longer scapulars broadly 

 tipped with white ; the earlier secondaries, especially with the major 

 portion of the inner webs, also white ; edge of the wing about the 

 carpal joint white; primaries, the first with the whole outer web black, 

 tipped with white and with a broad white band across both webs near 

 the tip ; above this band a considerable portion of the inner web is 

 black, and the rest pale grey ; second primary similar, but the white 

 band often entirely wanting or reduced to a spot on the inner web only, 

 the black on the inner web of less extent than in the first, and the 

 basal portion of the outer web the same pale blue grey as the coverts 

 and the rest of the wing ; the third and following primaries have only 

 the white tips and no white band, the outer webs become more grey 

 as they recede from the second, and the black diminishes on the inner 

 webs proportionally, so that on the seventh or eighth it is generally 

 reduced to a narrow black band across both webs, or in some cases on 

 the outer web only, and in others entirely wanting on the last three 

 quills. 



In the winter plumage the nape and back of the neck are striated 

 with pale brown, in some specimens, thinly on the crown also ; legs 

 and feet lemon yellow. 



Length. — 23 to 25-75 inches, expanse 58 to 60, wing 16-75 to 18, tarsus 

 2-5 to 2-78, bill at front 1-9 to 2-35, mid-toe and claw 2-25 to 2-6, 

 bill yellow, red near the tip of the lower mandible in summer. In 

 winter it is dull yellow, whitish at the tip, with a dark spot on both 

 mandibles near the tip, and an orange spot at the tip of the lower one. 

 {Hume, Str. F. i. 270. L. argentatus.) 



Hah. — Sind, Beloochistan (Mekran Coast), Persian Gulf, large rivers 

 of the Punjab, N. W. Provinces, the Delhi District and Rajputana. 



Numerous during winter in the Kurrachee harbour. It has not yet 

 been finally settled whether this species is L. argeyitatus or cacchin- 

 nans. Mr. Howard Saunders (P. Z. S. 1878) identifies it with cacchin- 

 nans ; the characters of both species are so similar, that it becomes 

 a vexed question. Mr. Hume maintains it is open to argument. All 

 my specimens agree with Mr. Hume's description; but the length of 

 the mid-toe and claw in 6 out of 6 specimens is 2-25, and of those in 

 the striated plumage the mantle is rather darker. 



Larus afQ.ms, Reinhardt. Vidensk. Meddel. 1853, p. 78; et Ibis 

 'i861,ip.l7; Seebohm and Brown, Ibis, 1876, p. 452. Larus fuscus, Jerd. 

 B, Ind. p. 830, No. 978; Gould. B. Eur. pi. 431. Larus occidentalis. 



