222 tilRDS OP tLLINdiS. 



first plumage: Somewhat similar to the winter adult, but lower part of nape covered hy i 

 large transverse patch of black, the anterior lesser wing-ooverts also more or less black, as 

 are the centres ol the innermost lesser coverts and tertials ; primary coverts and outer webs 

 of tour or five outer primaries also black. Tail crossed at the end (except lateral pair of feath- 

 ers) b7 a broad black band, widest on the intermediee.. Bill wholly black; "edge of eyelids 

 and iris as in the adult" (Audubon) ; legs and feet dusky brownish. Downy young: Head, 

 neck, wings, and lower parts, immaculate white, the neck and base of the wings more or 

 less tinged with buff; back, rump, and flanks, yellowish gray, the down darker at the base. 

 Wing, about 12.26 inches; oulmen, 1.40-1.60; depth of bill at base, .69, through angle, .40; 

 tarsus, l.SO; middle toe (with claw), 1.80. 



The Kittiwake is a northern gull which visits the Great Lakes 

 in winter, having been observed in the vicinity of Chicago by 

 Mr. Nelson, near Eacine, Wisconsin, by Dr. Hoy, and in Min- 

 nesota, by Dr. Hatch. During the breeding season, however, it 

 is strictly a littoral and maritime species, its summer home, on 

 the American side of the Atlantic, extending from the lower St. 

 Lawrence, Newfoundland, etc., to Greenland, throughout which 

 extensive region it is perhaps the most numerous species of the 

 family. It is said to have become much less abundant than 

 formerly on the New England coast (where it used to pass 

 the winter in immense numbers), on account of it6 destruction 

 by the flshermep for food and slaughter by city gunners for 

 "sport" — the latter, it is said, shooting them for sport or prac- 

 tice, and leaving the dead and wounded to float out to sea 

 with the ebbing tide. 



Genus LARUS Linn^us. 



La/rus Linn. S. N. ed. 10, i, 1758, 136; ed. 12, i, 1766, 224. Type, by elimination, L. canus Lnw. 

 Leucus Kaup. Nat. Syst. Eur. Thierw.1829,86. ("Includes i. marinus,gla%icus and/wso«s".) 

 Laroides Bbbhm, V6g. Deutschl. 1831, 738. ("Includes most of the European hoodless Gulls".) 

 GoAiina Bonaf. Naum. 1854, 212. ("For L. canus and allies and for L. adouini."— Baunpebs). 

 Ohroioocephalus Etton, Brit. B. 1836, 53. Type, Larus capistratus Tbmm. 

 AtriciUa Bonap. Naum. 1854, 212. Type, A. catesboei Bp.,=Larus atrioilla LiNM. 

 Dominicanus Bbuoh, J. f. 0. 1853, 100. Type, Larus marinus LmN. 

 Olauous BBtJCH, 1. 0. 1853, 101, Type, Larus glaucus LiKN. 

 Blasipus "Bp." Bbuoh, 1. o. 1853, 108. Type, Larus modestus Tschudi. 

 Melagavia Bonap. Naum. 1854, 213. Type, Larus franklinii Bw. & Biob, 



Gbn. Ohae, Size exceedingly variable, ranging from that of the smaller Albatrosses 

 downtothatof the medium-sized Terns; tail even; tarsus always longer than the middle 

 toe with its claw (except in L. minutus), and smoothish behind ;.colors extremely variable, 

 but young always widely different from the adult. 



The genus LomjLS, in the comprehensive sense in which it is 

 here adopted, includes many very dissimilar forms, which pro- 

 bably represent distinct genera. 



