7 



LAETJS AFFINIS. 



(SIBERIAN HERRING-GULL.) 



Larus affinis, Reinhardt, Vidensk. Meddel. 1853, p. 78. 



Larus argentatus, Midd. Sib. Reise, ii. p. 242 (1853, partim). 



Larus cachinnans, Licht. Nomencl. Av. p. 99 (1854, nee Pall.). 



Larus fu sous, Jerdon, B. of India, ii. p. 830 (1864, nee Linn.). 



Larus cachinnans, Meves, Ofv. K. Vet. Ak. Forh. 1871, p. 786 (nee Pall.). 



Larus occidental's, Hume, Stray Feathers, 1873, p. 273 (nee Audubon). 



Larus heuglini, Bree, B. of Eur. 2nd ed. v. p. 58 (1876). 



Figura unica. 

 Brandt, Desc. et Icon. Animal. Ross. Nov. Aves, fasc. ii. pi. iv. fig. 4. 



6 ad. Laro fusco similis, sed corpore supra conspicue pallidiore : remigibus nigris, in pogonio interno con- 

 spicue schistaceo marginatis, remige extimo versus apicem albo notato, reliquis vix albo apicatis, et 

 secundariis intimis late albo terminatis : capite, collo, cauda et corpore subtus albis : rostro flavo, 

 mandibula versus apicem rubro notata : pedibus flavis : marginibus palpebrarum saturate aui-antiacis. 



2 ad. mari similis. 



Juv. Laro fusco similis sed pallidius coloratus. 



Adult Male (Yooshina, Petchora, 25th June, 1875). Resembles Larus fuscus, but has the mantle much 

 lighter, being dark dull slate-blue ; quills black with a distinct dark slate pattern on the inner web, 

 the first quill with a white spot near the tip, several of the others slightly tipped with white ; inner 

 secondaries broadly tipped with white ; head, neck, tail, and underparts white ; bill yellow, with a spot 

 of red towards the tip of the lower mandible; legs and feet yellow; ring round the eye deep orange. 

 Total length about 20 inches, culmen 2'75, wing 17 - 4, tail 7"0, tarsus 2 - 8. 



Young Female (Yennesei). Resembles the young of Larus fuscus, but is rather paler and more marked. 



The Siberian Herring-Gull ranges from Northern Europe, right across Asia, to Alaska in North- 

 western America, and in the winter season ranges south to Northern India. Bernhardt received 

 an example from Greenland ; but, so far as I can ascertain, it has not been recorded from 

 Scandinavia, or anywhere between Greenland and Northern Russia. Von Middendorff procured 

 it during the breeding-season on Bear Island, south of Solovetsk, in the White Sea ; and Messrs. 

 Seebohm and Harvie-Brown, who procured it on the Petchora River, write (Ibis, 1876, p. 452) : — 

 " The Siberian Herring-Gull arrived on migration at Ust Zylma about the 11th May. It breeds 



